Taut... Tauf... Tautafanus... The Zoo

I've always wondered why the zoo in Idaho Falls is called what it is. It's the Tautphaus Zoo, a place which children love and want to visit, so let's make the name as difficult to read and say as possible. Dumb.
And we're starting over. Craig and Janet (Michael's parents) asked me Friday night if I would like to go to the zoo with them and Christopher (Michael's brother) and Jane and Megan (Chris's kids, well 2 outta 3). Laura (Chris's wife) was on vacation and we had to do something to keep those kids entertained! So the zoo it was. I hadn't been there, it only costs 6 dollars, and I'm trying to get all the exercise I can lately so maybe this baby will happen a little sooner. How could I say no?

Jane loved having the map. She was pretty good at navigating. Notice how many ponytail holders she has? Apparently she wanted 3 pony tails and settled for 3 pony tail holders instead. 

This is a serval and they are super cute! Probably about the size of a cocker spaniel. I had never seen one of these before!

Pelicans! It's really not fair to have them at the zoo, since you see them all over the place here, but since I'm not from here... Awesome!

Something that really impressed me about this place was just how close all the exhibits were. Not just in walking distance, because we really didn't walk that far, but the cages weren't super deep and all the animals were really close to you. That really impressed me. I'm sure it's just a space issue and that's the most logical way to set it up, but bigger zoos seem too concerned for the well being of the animals to be worried about what the customers want. 

On another note, with all these pelicans there were loads of ducks, some with blue bills, and swans and fish in the water. Jane wanted to feed them, of course. So she took the food from the gum ball type machine, threw it in the water and immediately went to see if she could get more food out. She didn't care a bit about watching the ducks and fish eat the food, she just enjoyed turning the knob for the food!

See what I mean about close? Craig asked one of the zookeepers how the animals handled the winter. The response was lengthy, but something like this: The lions and tiger have heated dens that they sleep in, but are open. They often go out and spend a lot of time outside though, even in the snow. The zebras and all the other animals that are from warm climates don't get any help with staying warm. They have adapted and do just fine being outside all winter. That's pretty cool. 

Jane wanted to sit on the tiger, but only if her dad would sit with her.

Isn't that a cute face? Megan loved that goat. 

Aren't they just so weird? I was actually really surprised with how nice these goats were. Maybe I just have a predetermined mindset that all goats are evil....

Megan taking her turn leading us.

River otters! They are so cute! Megan absolutely loved them. They were super active and kept jumping in and out of the water, it was quite entertaining. 

Lemurs! Chris and I had a conversation about how cool it could be to have a tail. Then we discussed what kind of tail we would like to have. He chose a monkey tail. I chose a lemur tail. You get all the balance and ability that you would with a monkey tail, but the black and white stripes will never go out of style!