Toronto Zoo

Gord and I spent the afternoon at the Toronto Zoo.

Encompassing 287 hectares (710 acres), the Toronto Zoo is the largest zoo in Canada. It is divided into six zoogeographic regions: Indo-Malaya, Africa, Americas, Australasia, Eurasia and the Canadian Domain. Some animals are displayed indoors in tropical pavilions and outdoors in what would be their naturalistic environments, with viewing at many levels. The zoo is currently home to over 16,000 animals (including invertebrates and fish) representing over 491 distinct species.

It wasn't that crowded since kids went back to school today.

Given the cold weather, not all the regions were open. We started with the Tundras Trek.

The polar bears, though not very lively, were fun to watch.

What really caught our attention when we were watching the polar bears were the Arctic wolves. At first they were lazy and calm.

Then this guy started howling.

And then these guys joined in.

And it was magic for a long time! Very cool!

The Arctic foxes were so cute!

Then we headed inside to wander around the Americas Pavilion. We spent a lot of time watching the beaver doing laps in the water.

We spent some time in the African Rainforest Pavilion watching the gorillas. This one kept picking her nose and then was amazed by what she had found.

How's this for lazing about?

This mom and baby were so cute!

We headed to the Canadian Domain. The lynx are just big kitties!

The cougars are big kitties too but they growled and paced continuously.

The moose were chillin'.

There were lots of bison and elk hanging together.

The hyena, part of the African Savanna,was out.

And here we are leaving 3.5 hours and many kms walked later!

What a fun afternoon!

Penguins are coming this year ... can't wait!