The San Diego Wild Animal Park is a bigger, & in our opinion, better version of the San Diego Zoo. The layout is huge, & many of the animals are able to roam freely within a huge natural “preserve”. A train takes visitors out & around this area, where the animals can be safely observed behaving more like wild animals than they ever could in a traditional zoo envirnment. This is also where the breeding program does what it does. They have been in the news as of late because of their latest accomplishments: baby’s!
The first baby we saw was the elephant. On September 11 at 7:49 p.m., a 209-pound (95-kilogram) female African elephant calf was born at the Wild Animal Park, marking the second birth for the herd rescued from culling in Africa in 2003. The calf was born to 16-year-old, first-time mother Umngani. This morning she was happily bouncing beside her mom. The train guide told us that she didn’t know how to operate the strange floppy thing that hangs from her face – it is only by watching the older elephants that she will learn how to use her trunk. She was very cute & active!
Later in the ride, we passed a pond where many different types of birds live. Some of them are flamingos, & with them were these very fuzzy gray things on stilts – yep, baby flamingos! As they age, they lose the gray & grow out their white feathers. That’s right, flamingos are white – unless they eat certain foods. Then their feathers take on their characteristic pink hue.
Much later in the day, while noshing on Dippin Dots & frozen lemonades, we were clued in by an employee to head over to the Lion Camp. There we found the family – proud mom & dad with their twin cubs. It was amazing. The enclosure has a section that is rimmed by a glass wall. Along part of the wall, a dirt “platform” provides a shady lounging area that places the resting lions at eyeballs height. The cubs were both hanging out here near their mom. Suddenly, she got up & walked over to dad, who was out in the grassy area. The cubs, who are 3 months old, quickly followed, nippy at each other’s legs all along the way. It was great fun watching them – the “kids” tussled with each other in the tall grass, then stalked their parents. At one point, dad got up & gently charged at his offspring, causing great delight for cubs & spectators alike. Later, back at the window ledge, he wrestled & pinned them down. It was always a thrill to catch the eye of one of the lions – they look you straight in the eye & really seem to be considering you, probably wondering what disease caused us to lose all of our fur. Man, we make for really ugly lions!
We were about to leave when Kimi placed her newly-purchased stuffed wolf on the window ledge near the lions. One cub took immediate notice. As Kimi moved the toy, the baby lion tracked the toy’s movements with his head. Kimi, not letting this opportunity slip away, moved the toy as if she were playing with cat & this little cub took the bait. He scrunched down his body & then pounced! Finding nothing but smooth glass for his efforts did not disuade him. For nearly 10 minutes Kimi kept the cub fully engaged in trying to catch the toy. People on our side kept taking photos & encouraged him to “Catch it!” He tried different positions of attack, at one point using all four paws to press against the glass. It was so fun watching him try to figure out this challenge. Eventually, he did get tired of the game, & looked away, just like a human baby will when tired or overwhelmed by a game. We are so grateful to have had this inter-species connection.
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