Montgomery has a lovely zoo with a remarkable collection. The zoo is a department of the city government, which, to some people makes it all the more remarkable that it’s such a nice zoo. It has good community involvement, and that helps. Today, the zoo had an enrichment day, which a a day when the zoo staff thinks up new ways to challenge the animals to keep them from getting bored and depressed. I first learned about this several years ago when visiting the Central Park Zoo. The polar bear keepers were sharing things they did for the polar bears with the zoo visitors. (Did you know polar bears love peanut butter?)

Montgomery doesn’t have polar bears, but they have lots of other “big ticket” and high interest exhibits. They had scheduled events from 10:00 – 2:00 today. I got there early and left about noon, so I didn’t see all the enrichment activities, but I caught a few. My first stop was at the tiger exhibit. Montgomery has a gorgeous white Bengal Tiger. They also have a traditionally colored Bengal Tiger, but he’s never been on exhibit when I’ve been there. The tiger enrichment for today was a frozen meat and blood ball. Here are a couple shots of her enjoying it:

 

 

 

 

 

For Meryl, I saw a pair of Black Swans in the Australia exhibit — I think I got a couple good shots of them. Here’s one:

The giraffes were still eating when I got there. I also learned a baby giraffe had been born back in December. I think the smallest giraffe’s name is Ginny:

The last photo I’ll share today? The spider monkeys enjoying their enrichment item for today: Fruit ice cube mobile and frozen treats. That sounds good, and I was half tempted to climb into their enclosure and join them. It was hot out today. Here they are:

I got more good shots — the chimpanzees in the trees pulling off branches. The baby buffalo lounging next to it’s mom. An American Elk with a gorgeous rack of antlers. Several shots of the rhino lounging in its pool. I even took video and caught the sound of water splashing when it flicked its ears. I have video of the tiger as well as a zebra running behind the giraffes. I have a great shot of the black bear’s nose — that’s one large bear. Also, I forgot to mention earlier, but I was standing at the glass of the tiger exhibit. She walked by me and curled her lip at me. The keepers, standing out there watching how she approached her enrichment all laughed and commented about how she didn’t like me. I commented back that my own cat did that every once in awhile as well.

There was more — so many gorgeous animals, but that’s a brief summary.