Our family recently visited one of our local zoos, The Elmwood Park Zoo. We really enjoyed our family membership this past year to The Philadelphia Zoo, but decided to join the smaller and slightly closer-to-us Elmwood Park Zoo for this year.
One of the main motivators for our membership switch was the giraffe exhibit recently added to the zoo. Five dollars gets two participants a decent handful of lettuce to feed two giraffes from observation decks perched at giraffe height. The giraffes certainly know what to expect. Once you’re on the deck, the giraffes come right to you! I unwittingly made the mistake of holding my daughter in her tutu skirt too near the giraffe’s head. He had up to her waistband clenched in his teeth before I realized what was happening and rescued her and her skirt! Thankfully, she thought it was a little funny that the giraffe tried to eat her skirt!
While they’re close for feeding, you’re also able to pet them. So fun to stroke their hair and feel their slimy, bumpy tongues, to get a close up look at their eyelashes, wrinkled legs, and fuzzy ears. If I was a willing sponsor ($$), my littles would have done this all morning!
As we toured the rest of the zoo with my parents, it often felt like we were the only ones there. We ran into keepers often who engaged us by offering interesting information and answering our questions. I must say I consider a zoo trip more successful if we’re able to spend time learning from the keepers. I always learn something new and so do my littles!
Other highlights were the petting zoo,
the eagles exhibit and eagles nest playground,
the bats, and the squirrel monkeys.
In other news, I think this feed sign from the petting zoo would look great in my kitchen. Maybe a bit smaller, but seriously. I love it. And often times I feel as though I’m providing feed for my own little zoo.
P.S. – Here’s a Groupon link to purchase your own family membership or one day pass for a great deal (about 50% off!)
That sounds like an awesome new exhibit! I love the pictures! I recently saw a Groupon for the Elmwood Park Zoo and considered purchasing it and now I think I may. 🙂 We have been there before and really enjoyed it. I personally prefer the smaller zoos and museums and so our kids. Have you ever been to the Cape May Zoo? It’s free and is a lot like the Elmwood Park Zoo.
Here is the link in case your readers are interested. It is for 50% off a membership or individual tickets! Great deal!
http://www.groupon.com/deals/elmwood-park-zoo?p=1&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&sid=33937453-1902-45da-8286-454d4d0cf37a&division=philadelphia&user=ea836cfba72b65b3c118b091e97595353f9e5e181b5208b4565e947cfc32500c&date=20131022&s=body&c=deal_title&d=deal-page&utm_campaign=elmwood-park-zoo
Christy, thank you!! I was just going to add the link too! I haven’t been to Cape May Zoo, but really want to. We hoped to go last time we were near, but I forget why we couldn’t make it work.