I always enjoy stopping at the Santa Barbara Zoo.
Tawny Frogmouths are an Austrailian bird, a bit like an owl.
I have mixed feelings about zoos, especially when it comes to animals like the big cats. It is such a limited life compared to being wild. Even a big enclosure is still an enclosure. Most aquariums don't have orcas any more, maybe zoos shouldn't have big cats.
I wonder why zoos choose to have exotic animals when there are native ones that would be just as interesting. For example, why Asian river otters instead of North American river otters? Or why Chilean flamingos instead of American flamingos?
Unfortunately, since our last visit the elderly elephants died. Their space has been taken over by kangaroos and an emu (which hid in the bushes). The nice part was that you could go inside the enclosure (like a walk through aviary) which was great for taking photos.
The rescued Channel Foxes were also new, and very cute.
Santa Barbara Zoo was involved in the recovery of California Condors. In 1987 the last few wild condors were captured for breeding. Since then condors have been released back to the wild and their numbers and range are gradually increasing.
One of the gorillas was enjoying some alfalfa cubes.
A face only a mother could love.
It's always fun to watch the meerkats.
This giraffe was just finishing eating the leaves off this branch.
One of the colorful Scarlet Macaws
And a much less colorful Sacred Ibis (sacred to the ancient Egyptions)
Of course, there were lots of exotic (to a northerner) flowers around the zoo.
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