Stringrays at Caribbean Cove featuring Sharks
We are big fans of the zoo as evidenced by our frequent trips. Plus, the admission is free! They recently opened up a new exhibit, so we decided to spend Saturday afternoon checking it out. The 17,000 gallon pool complete with waterfall is home to mild-manner bonnethead sharks, white-spotted bamboo sharks and nurse sharks swimming with cownose rays, southern stingrays and horseshoe crabs. For $1, you can purchase food to feed the stingrays. Most people just petted them from the side of the pool. Unfortunately, the sharks and horseshoe crabs are a little shy. They pretty much just rested on the bottom of the pool. One of the sharks was close enough for Tony to lean over and pet. Had I tried, I would have ended up in the pool with them!
The staff actually monitors the stingrays throughout the season and trim back their stingers when needed to ensure that no one is hurt. They compare it to clipping our fingernails.
After standing in a short line to pet the stingrays and sharks, we walked across the zoo to Historic Hill so that we could watch the sea lion show. Two new cast members were introduced this year, so we were exciting to see the baby sea lions!
Rosie is one of the stars as the show. She's a long time resident of the St. Louis Zoo and known as the diva of sea lion arena.
This is her "I'm shy. Please don't take my photo pose." It's adorable!
Meet Dixi and Nikki, two 11-month old sea lion pups that recently arrived at the zoo.
Rosie's two brothers Roby and R.J. are also part of the show. We'll see them in the videos!
The zoo, which is already incredible and rated #1 in the country by Zagat, has very progressive renovation plans for the next couple of years. It is being called "The Living Promise" and is part of a $120 million capital campaign by the zoo. The first major project under this campaign will be complete in 2012. Sea Lion Sound will provide a 1.5 acre complex for the all of the zoo's California sea lions. The current sea lion pool is 90 years old. The new one will be incredible!
Youtube animated video of the new sea lion sound -
Tony thinks that chipmunks are adorable. I'm not a real big fan of them right now since we believe that is what is rooting up our vegetable garden in back!
Malayan Sun Bear - Smallest of the bear species.
We headed over the bear pits after sea lion show to watch the feeding. You could tell that all four of the bear pits knew that it almost feeding time. The bears were all quite restless and moving around quite a bit!
The St. Louis Zoo was one of the first in the world to replace barred cages with open enclosures. In the 1920s, five bear grottoes were molded from limestone along the Mississippi River. Four are still in use with the fifth now home to part of the penguin exhibit. Each bear pit comes complete with waterfalls, fountains and pools, along with bluffs for climbing. To help stimulate the bears, keepers often hide fruit and special snacks in the bluffs for the bears to seek out using their senses. Under the current capital campaign, these bear pits will undergo a massive renovation once Sea Lion Sound is complete.
Sloth Bear
He was adorable with all of his shaggy hair! We were at the bear pits for almost an hour, and he walked the exact circle the entire time. He'd also stop in the same place and do a complete 360 degree turn before continuing on. From reading the placard at his habitat, I learned that sloth bears got their name because of similarity between their claws and those of the sloth. I'd be much more afraid of his claws than the ones on a sloth!
We did manage to catch the last ten minutes of feeding time for the penguins. My favorite part was when the keeper started walking off and all of the penguins lined up to follow him! Alas, he left without sharing any additional treats with them.
Andean Bear
He was getting a little drink of water from his pool while we were there. This particular breed of bear is a builder. The often build platforms out of broken branches in trees to reach fruit. They'll also build nests for sleeping.
The second of the Andean Bears in this enclosure. I guess the hammock is to simulate the bear nests that they like to build for sleeping in trees.
Grizzly!
There are two very large grizzy bears that call the St. Louis Zoo home. The second spent most of his time walking around in the bottom where you could only see his ears at times, but he did climb the bluffs once to see if the food had arrived yet. Both of them paced relentlessly until the food man finally arrived! These two brothers were born in the wild in Alaska, but abandoned as cubs.
I love that he sits up to beg like Sugar! It was adorable. Tony actually zoomed in on this shot on our camera. It gave us a pretty scary picture of his teeth!
This was after he got tired of catching the food in the air. He just used his paw to slap it down in front of him. He reminded me a goalie.
We took a ride on one of the zoo trains following the bear feeding.
Tony wanted me to share his lunch from the zoo with you. When I eat a cafe at a place like the zoo, I always order something simple like a grilled cheese. No, Tony has to be difficult and ordered a fried shrimp po-boy. Really? Does anyone really believe that they'll get a good fried shrimp po-boy at the zoo? Of course he was disappointed! Please notice that his pickle is longer than the po-boy and it only came with four pieces of shrimp. They also put the shrimp on top, so he couldn't close it. After taking the picture, he dumped the po-boy and completely reassembled it to his liking.
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