San Diego Zoo, better than awesome

From Astonishing Jane

The day started early, in Victorville, with a supplied breakfast. Heading off, punching the zoo into Google Maps...and, oh oh, what happened to the data on my phone?!

Surely something as big as the San Diego zoo would be signposted all the way....um, not really.

But the feedback loop of no data means not updating the plan via the app, nor the website. Coming from NZ, we have no 5 digit postcode, so cannot used automated phone top up neither. Oh well, let's just enjoy the zoo.

From Splendid Eliza

The first thing we did and I enjoyed was the bus tour around the zoo. We had our photo taken and then we got on the bus. I learnt that the polar bears don't like the cold water at the zoo because they are so used to San Diego temperatures. I also heard the worst jokes in the whole entire WORLD, but I have to share them with you:
Q: What do you call a camel with no hump?  Humphrey

Q: Why couldn't the koala get a job?  Because it didn't have the right koala-fications.

Q: I shouldn't call the hippos lazy that would be hippo-critical

We went on the bus where all the uphills where so we knew where to walk down once we got off.

If you ever go to San Diego Zoo then go in the morning on the bus and you can see the Californian Condors flying, their wingspan is twice my height (10 feet long, me 5 feet).

From Spectacular Jonty
I saw some gorillas. One was a silver back gorilla and the other a younger gorilla. They walk on their knuckles. Later that day, we went on the Skyfari and we saw them even better.

I saw a snow leopard, snakes, Andean bears, lots of birds and ducks.

By:Amazing Logan
Yay, for the first time ever I saw my favourite animal, the Polar Bear. The first time we saw Tatqiq was on the bus tour. When we saw him he was sunbathing on a giant boulder. And the second time was when we walked all the way up to the top with no buses or shortcuts. When we saw him the second time he was so close to the glass rubbing his icy cloud white fur on the glass playing in the  water. Polar Bears are majestic animals with huge heads and super fluffy fur. Their webbed feet are massive and on the end of them are 5 one inch claws. Tatqiq has insane jaws so powerful that it can grip a slippery seal. Their teeth are 3 inches long as sharp as knife blades, killing their prey in just one bite.

Tatqiq just does not want to look

Tatqiq relaxing in his super heated pool

Yay posing for the camera finaly


The ugliest bird on the planet
the Californian Condor

Every bird judger thinks that the marabou stork is the ugliest bird on earth, but trust me it's the bird native to california, the Californian Condor

These ugly but marvelous creatures are scavengers picking up old remains of dead animals. In the 1980's these scavengers had only 22 birds left in the wild. These birds were going extinct because hunters would shoot their prey with lead bullets. Lead is poisonous to wild life, so when the prey got shot the condors would come in and hope to have a tasty snack, instead they got killed. Conservations by the numbers tried to rescue these birds, so when the condors got released freely in 1991 and 1992 the population was steady again. Gun bullets got changed to steel and copper so this consequence would never happen again.

Even though they almost went extinct doesn't mean we cannot enjoy them now. They are part of the raptor family because the have got the 4 criteria a raptor needs to have.Eyes. They have binocular vision eyes that only look foward, that is why you see birds turning their heads quite often.Grip strength. they have a very strong grip.Talons. They have very sharp claws on the end of each foot.Beak. Their beak is curved making it easier to pick the meat off the carcus. This isn't a criteria but they have short feathers on the end of their wings making them steer while finding their next meal or migrating to warmer areas.

Their winspan is insane 10 feet!!!

three ugly condors coming right up