Memphis Zoo

As the adults were busy getting themselves ready and gathering all the necessary goodies for the day the kids piled on our bed to watch Kung Fu Panda. Its one of the current favorites in our house. Plus it was the only "animal" movie we had. At one point we brought up the fact that the kids should get excited because we were soon heading to the zoo and we could see a real Panda! Then we back tracked our statement saying, well maybe not a Panda but there would be other bears there! Because really how many Zoos in American actually have Pandas....well it turns out that the Memphis Zoo is one of only four US Zoos that do have Pandas! Guess we should have actually looked at their website before our trip :)

After breakfast we loaded up and headed on over to the Zoo. It was the perfect day for it, mid 70s with a nice breeze!

They have a male and a female (pictured below) at the Zoo and the goal is to have them successfully produce a baby panda. The female has been pregnant 3 times and has miscarried each time. The trick with Pandas is they are only "in heat" once a year for three days! The zookeepers think sometime this spring will be the next opportunity, but they don't know for sure. (FYI we got there just in time to listen to the "keeper talk")

Zach thought the Pandas were pretty cool!

The only other "keeper talk" we caught was on the giraffes. The LOVED his bananas!

The polar bear was one of my personal favorites! There was quite a crowd in the room watching him and the bear was playing with all the ones down by the window! I am not sure who was having more fun the kids or the bear!

We saw TONS of these! Its a FedEx plane, the Zoo was right in their tack off pattern that day!

This is the bear habitat and lodge. The Zoo has been updating several of their exhibits and this is one of the completed projects!

Not too shabby of a home for these three "little" bears!

Kristin & I were talking about how after living in Alaska bears everywhere else just seem so tiny--still plenty scary---but small!

One tired little guy at the end of the day! The last exhibit we saw was the tigers!

Some how all the kids managed to find a burst of energy when they discovered the bamboo! It was just a small patch but it was like a forest to them!

We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the Zoo and imagine that it will just continue to improve in the years to come! If we are ever in Memphis again, we'll go back.