So my wife and I kind of spontaneously decided to go to the zoo today, despite the fact that it was ~25* outside most of the day with some snow flurries and a 20mph wind. We knew that not a lot of animals would be out, but we also knew that there wouldn't be a lot of people out.

The NC zoo is pretty cool because most of the enclosures are really big and the habitats are pretty natural/comfortable looking. There are very few animals in cages proper, though I still sometimes hate how we have zoos and animals in captivity. However, the NC zoo is also involved in rehabilitating abused animals (two polar bears), protecting certain species, and generally trying to be good zoological citizens.

We like it because it's spread out with nice walking, interesting animals, and it's a nice drive (about an hour west of Durham) to get there.

The zoo has a North American section, and African section, and a small (new) Australian section. The North American section was the only one open today, because all the African plains animals would have been too cold!

Here are the animals we saw today (there were a few more, but not great photos):

Red Wolves:




Cougar:


Grizzly:


Arctic Foxes:




Elk:

^ shots Mark, those Arctic foxes are freakin adorable.

I really like the Grizzly Bear shot!!!

great pics!

Some from our June trip:

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The wife and I took our little guy to the zoo today. Here are a few of my favorites:

Bobby's zoo threads prompted me to update this thread since we just went to the zoo for the second time this year. The grizzly photo I posted a couple of months ago was from our first trip--this trip I got some nice shots of the cats. Looking at my earlier posts, I was surprised to find that I now have two photos of Bobcats yawning!

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7. Indigenous, non-captive wildlife!


8. Heavy processing because it's a huge crop and not a great photo


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Very nice, Mark. Lovin the arctic foxes. And that last monkey shot is great.

*cough* http://sharewhereyoushoot.com/

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

*cough* http://sharewhereyoushoot.com/

Yeah, yeah... I have a lot I want to contribute to that, but not a lot of time right now... I will get to it, I promise.

Never saw this post before. #5 from that 1st set really stands out from the rest!

Originally Posted by a.hoglen

Never saw this post before. #5 from that 1st set really stands out from the rest!

You probably didn't see it before because I bumped it from 2008.

Originally Posted by Markitos

Yeah, yeah... I have a lot I want to contribute to that, but not a lot of time right now... I will get to it, I promise.

word, thanks! I just wasn't sure if you were going to add to it, but if it's a time thing I certainly understand that!

Nice shots! I was there a few weeks ago and didn't get to see the North America part. Very cool!