Singapore Menagerie: The Zoo

Having only allotted a few days for Singapore, we knew we were going to have to be quite choosy in our activities. Projected itinerary: Go to water park - check. Visit Raffles landing and other historic sites downtown - check. Eat delicious food - double check. Spend all day at the zoo - CHECK. The most difficult decision regarding the zoo: night safari or day in the park? Having already been on a night safari in Taiping, Malaysia, we decided to go with the latter, and I’m so glad we did.

Unlike American zoos where all the animals are kept safely away from visitors, there were times when we were shockingly close to the animals. This kangaroo jumped right across my path as I was walking up around the Australia section:

Morgan was greeted by this white faced Colombos monkey as he exited the bathroom:

It was incredible to be so close to these animals, but we decided we wanted to learn a little more about them. Luckily for us, we were able to follow the guides on their lunchtime feeding rounds and watch:

A polar bear snack on one of his favorite treats, frozen watermelon.

A cheetah chases after a raw chicken leg.

White rhinos eagerly await bananas and cantaloupe.

Lions on the prowl for steaks.

White tigers (some of the few left in the world) ready to feast.

We were very excited to discover that the zoo had an extensive primate/monkey collection.

Ze best:

Proboscis monkeys, who were shockingly human-like in their behavior.

White handed gibbons swinging amidst the branches.

    
A chimp playing one of the games specifically designed to test their mental acuity. In this particular game, he has to successfully push a piece of fruit to the far right, by manipulating a stick through the zigs and zags on top of the box. Can he do it?

 
Of course he can! (Minor detail: This particular chimp actually made his stick into a spear and would stab at small bits of fruit until he was able to slide them directly up and out of the openings. We weren’t sure if he was a genius or not totally with it.)

Finally, we decided to attend the marine show, “Splashin’ Safari.” Appearances were made by African penguins and manatees, but the real star of the show was Carlos the sea lion. He put on quite a performance, entering to the Hawaii 5-0 theme song, and doing a series of flips, high fives and sprints across the pool. The man of the hour:

The real highlight for me, however, was actually being a part of the show, as I was chosen to play a round of frisbee with Carlos! My reward:

A kiss from the star himself!