Heading back north to St Louis, Missouri to start the Great Train Adventure we stopped in Little Rock so we could get to the Little Rock Zoo just as it opened and still get up the road to Jonesboro before dark which Lori does! not! like!
So we joined the waiting crowd and got in as soon as they opened the gates. Sorry if the Giraffe sculpture is a little hard to see but it reminds me so much of last year at the Jackson Zoo I had to include it.
The Reticulated Python blends in so well it is hard to locate the head which by the rule of thirds is exactly one third from the top and one third in from the left if you can find the shining dot that is the eye looking for the next meal.
In contrast to the python, the eagles were really quite active moving from perch to perch until I finally caught them both together watching the crowd.
The Malayan Tiger was also active patrolling the enclosure or maybe just nervous pacing, it's rather hard to tell but these big guys were born to roam much bigger spaces.
As I remember the Blue Cranes and the Malayan Tiger were separated by this waterfall allowing them to keep an eye on each other but not interact.
Here are two color variations of Jaguar which are normally spotted but about 6% are born solid black and very rarely albino. They are native to the southwestern North America where they are currently very rare if any are left down throughout most of South and Middle America. They are featured in many of the native American legends. I kept coming back but the black guy never moved so I could not catch him in a more natural pose than plopped.
Finishing up the big cats are the traditional Lions found in most zoos. You know like Lions and Tigers and sorry I did not see any Bears here on this visit.
One of the stars of the show was the African Spotted Neck Otters trying to be everywhere at once.
The white tuffs that give them their name are not restricted to only the neck as they go well down the flank. These guys were really having a great time in and out of the water, sneaking through the grass and racing all over.
Just about as active the Bush Dog was quite difficult to photograph. Initially I was waiting as they passed through the upper part of the enclosure and then discovered the lower viewport where they would stop momentarily at times.
Finishing up our visit is the carosel which I could not talk Lori into riding this time and another White Rhino this time with two huge horns. To an African Bushman collecting these horns for the Asian medicine trade would be huge windfall in a very meager existence. Since the short tempered Rhino does not easily give up its horns they are very threatened in their natural range and their only real hope for survival may be the zoo. Thankfully like Lions most zoos seem to have at least one.