There was time for an outing after the reunion before we were scheduled to leave Idaho. Several people at the reunion had been to the zoo and said they enjoyed it. We tried to count the years since we had been at the zoo and we decided it must have been about 35 years.
What a change. It is so much nicer and larger now. The enclosures were clean and we were fortunate to go on a day that was overcast so not hot and the animals were pretty active.
Well, most were active.
Zoo Boise has quite a history. It is a part of the Julia Davis Park and was founded in 1916 under some interesting circumstances. When a monkey escaped from a local circus and was found near Mountain Home, Idaho the Zoo was started on the park land.
During the meat rationing of Great Depression, many animals were donated to the zoo by circuses and others who could not afford their care.
Zoo Boise has hundreds of animals. Many are the usual ones you expect but some are a little different too. Like this Capybara. It is the largest rodent in the world and native to South America.
The Southern Groundbill is an interesting bird. They mostly hunt on the ground and in captivity can live up to 70 years. They are native to Africa and now live in the wild in Hawaii because some escaped the Honolulu Zoo.
Love the complicated pattern of the stripes on the Grevy's Zebra. Just like snowflakes no two zebras are alike.
There is always one that has a face that only a mother could love.......like this wart hog. Despite their scary appearance, warthogs prefer staying away from danger. They can run at a speed of almost 33 miles per hour, and have a tendency to run backwards into burrows to escape predators. The backward running ensures that predators will face its deadly tusks if they follow it.
I could watch the baboons all day long. Pretty disturbing if you watch long. Their behavior is so like us. This guy laid claim to the basket and was very effective keeping it. Then all of a sudden he stood up, threw the basket at the other baboons and walked off.
The Komodo Dragon was happily sleeping with a smile on its face.
The Sloth Bear was not at all interested in the kids trying to get his attention.
I left Walt behind and headed for "Butterflies in Bloom." This is a blue morpho.
Every summer now the exhibit is the favorite of visitors. I understand why. I spent a very long enjoying the beauty.
All of the butterflies here come from Costa Rica.
Until I visited here I did not know that there was such a thing as Butterfly farming. It provides a livable income to many families in Costa Rica.
The butterflies are shipped as pupa from Costa Rica and they emerge in Boise and are released into the exhibit. The Costa Rica butterfly farms ship pupa all over the world to be exhibited.
I enjoyed the flowers as well as the butterflies.
This gorgeous stained glass looking creature is a Malachite butterfly. Apparently it is a very common butterfly in Costa Rica.
I was fortunate to have several butterflies land on me. Since Walt wasn't along there weren't many photo ops but finally one landed on my arm so I could take the picture. Little children were jealous that they weren't landing on them and I thought it would be unkind to tell them that it was because they never stood still so I just told them they must like my white hair. Might be true because that is where most of them landed.
The magnificent owl butterfly is one of the largest butterflies in Costa Rica. It is a nocturnal butterfly with giant spots on its wings that resemble owl eyes.
I lingered and lingered but finally I decided I'd better go before the cute young lady that was monitoring the exit do0r was going to serve eviction papers on me.
They even have art at the zoo.
Happy we were able to make a return visit to Zoo Boise after all these years. It seems like a good zoo where they really care about the animals.