Chester Zoo

James and I wanted a day out. We went to the zoo.

They had life-size cut outs of animals. Rhinos are bigger than you'd think.

I don't actually remember what exactly these are. Some sort of deer. They have lots of them.

We saw elephants. I like elephants. They have really good memories - it was proven. At least, it was proven that one particular elephant has an awesome memory and doesn't like trick questions.

 

Usually, the male elephant hangs out by himself and the girls group together. Recently, researches have noticed that sometimes in the wild the bulls actually wander with the females, who surround him to protect him from poachers.

We saw camels. They're strange. They look a bit shaggy. That's because it's summer now, and they're malting.

When you see them in drawings the humps are perfectly shaped and really upright, but not these guys. The hump actually stores fat, not water. That means that they can store enough fat without getting too hot because the rest of the body doesn't have to hold any of it.

What's the difference between a buffalo and a basin? You can't wash your face in a buffalo!

The Congo Buffalo, AKA Red Buffalo or Forest Buffalo. They live in the rainforest for about 15 years. I think that is pretty much everything I learned about these guys.

Giraffes are fun. They are one of only two members of the Giraffidae family. The other member is called Okapi - it looks kinda like a deer.

Giraffes start their life with a 6 foot, head first drop to the ground, then they get up and start walking. They're necks are really long but only have seven vertebrae (the same as any other mammal). They have this fighting style known as necking (males fighting over mates), where they swing their necks and bash each other with their heads. Sometimes one of them falls over.

We saw giant tortoises. They live a really long time.

Here's how you tell the difference between a tortoise and a turtle:

• Tortoises have stumpy feet.
• Turtles have flippers.
• Terrapins have claws.

And we saw lots of exciting exotic birds.

King of the swingers.

The name 'orangutan' translates into English as 'man of the forest'. And apart from the fact that they live in trees, they are quite like humans. The babies cry and wimper to tell parents something's wrong, and smile at their mothers. Orangutans have opposable thumbs and they have 32 permanent teeth. They use branches as fly swatters and have makeshift umbrellas / parasols made from leaves (that is, they'll hold a few leaves over their head to protect them from rain or sun - they haven't actually fashioned a tool that'll fold up or has a telescopic handle or anything).

I don't remember what this is. I think it's some sort of stick insect.

A lizard. Of the dragon variety, I believe.

Flamingos. Those strange pink birds that wouldn't be very exciting if they weren't pink. They're actually quite boring when you get past the colour.

The most treacherous problem flamingos face is somebody stealing their nest; if they do, the first egg gets kicked out and the first parents have no hope of picking it up and putting it back (even if they do manage to reclaim their nest).

And we saw penguins.

The TV makes penguins look like they're always having fun. They sled on their bellies, 'fly' underwater and they go fishing. They always look like their playing. Not in real life. These guys looked bored. Maybe they would be having fun if they weren't prisoners in a zoo.

There's a tiger! He's hiding in the trees but I can see him. I guess that camouflage isn't as good as he thought.

This one time, someone shaved a tiger's fur off and found it was stripey on its skin too.

Lions! This enclosure looks tiny in the picture, sorry about that. The enclosure is pretty big at Chester Zoo. I mean, not in relation to a lion's territory in the wild - they would have an area far bigger than the whole zoo if they could, but in relation to other zoos, theirs is big.

Sometimes they feed the lions whole chickens so they can play with them and pull the feathers out like they would in the wild. Or something. I imagine lions like to play. They are cats, after all.

Got a good view of the cheetahs - the walkway goes right over the enclosure. Maybe that way it's not so intrusive but you still get a good view of them.

You don't get to see cheetahs run in a zoo, or do anything much. That's the problem with locking up big cats, I guess.

Meerkats are not from Russia! In the wild they live in the Kalahri and Namib Deserts (Southern Africa).

There are a few acceptable collective nouns for meerkats - clan, family, gang or mob. There's usually about 20 of them in a family. They're all responsible for looking after the young. I seem to remember something from a documentary about only the dominant female being allowed to mate; that way they only have one litter to look after at a time, but don't quote me on that.

Baby meerkats are cute. Look how tiny!!!

And finally we went in the butterfly hut but none of them would stay still for long enough to have their picture taken so you'll just have to take my word for it.

James was so convinced that we didn't need to arrive as soon as the place was opening, but we turned up two hours after opening and didn't actually have time to see everything. Well, we were very tired by this point, having spent four hours walking in the sun so we went home.