Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

It's a Zoo, you learn cool stuff about animals, great chances to play with my camera, adorable animals, fierce animals, funny animals, gorgeous plants and flowers, interesting plants and flowers.

These are my pictures from the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo.  What will prove to be most interesting about our trip to Fort Wayne is when I get the pictures developed that my kids took with the disposable cameras we bought for them.

And the Kangaroo experience... is at the end of the post!

Click the pic to see Teagan at this same water fountain 2 years ago!

Not an official part of the exhibit. We enjoyed watching this little green guy cavort with a chipmunk in the African Plains exhibit area.  

Jeff conquered the lion!

This is a dingo.  It is far too adorable to have eaten that woman's baby.  Seriously.  Dingos are hunters... but look like regular, friendly dogs!

  

Great way to end a hot, hot day.  And also a giggle in how similar Teagan's expression is to that last picture.

KANGAROOS

When we went to Fort Wayne in 2010, we had an amazing kangaroo experience when a kangaroo vaulted over the path and over Zach's stroller!  We've talked about that kangaroo for 2 years now. 

The highlight was back in the Australia area. You can get really close to the kangaroos. Like... there is a path through the exhibit and a little rope thing to keep you on the path but there is nothing that keeps a kangaroo from hopping! Most of them were hanging out in a little shady area when I spied one hopping towards us from the other side of the exhibit. Teagan and I stopped to watch him hop- amazing to see those powerful leg and how they use their tail. Jeff had Zach in the stroller and was a bit ahead of us. Suddenly, the kangaroo decides to go join the group in the shade off to our left and bounds over the path- directly in front of Zach and Jeff!! It was awesome!! That gave us quite a little boost of energy! 

This year's visit had a lot to live up to after that!

And it did not disappoint!

First, I learned more about kangaroos than I have ever learned before.  They are fascinating animals.  This mob of kangaroos currently has about 12 joeys.  A joey starts out about the size of a jellybean.  They then live in their mother's pouch for about 9-12 months.  Bits and pieces of the joey will poke out of the pouch over the course of those months.  A foot, a paw, the head, a tail.  When we first came into the exhibit, it was crowded and a well informed zoo employee was telling the crowd about the joeys and the kangaroos.  All the roos were hanging out in one particular shaded area.  2 of the moms had larger joeys that were dangling various parts out of the pouch- back legs, a tail.

We listened and learned and spent a few minutes just watching the kangaroos.  Then we moved on to another section down the path and learned about the joeys in more detail.  The kids got hands on with some things and we learned about how the joey stays in the pouch when mama roo is jumping around.  I hear the bird exhibit that we had come through to get to the kangaroos getting noisy and notice that the kangaroos are noticing, too.  Lots of standing upright and ears perked up.  I also notice that we are now the only visitors in the exhibit.

Suddenly, one of the mama roos jumps onto the path just feet away from where we are!!  This picture shows how far she was from Teagan and Zach.

She then hangs out on the path, looking around, listening.  Suddenly, the little tail that had been sticking out disappears and out pops... a little joey head!

We were so close to this fantastic animal and her baby.  It was amazing!  She stayed on the path, close to us, for about 3 minutes before hopping back over to the other kangaroos.

Next time we visit the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, I'm thinking a kangaroo might just come over for a hug.

If you'd like to see all my pictures from our trip, check out my Google+ album!