“What big ears you have!”

Still trying to catch up with my blips!
Wednesday
A great day down at Cincinnati Zoo today. Knowing the forecast called for milder temperatures today, we thought it would be a good day to visit the zoo, since more animals would be in their outside enclosures. The morning started out sunny, but around lunchtime the clouds bega to move in. It was really nice being there on a weekday out of season without the crowds. It was hard choosing what to blip, but I finally chose the African painted dog, as the last times we have been there, they were hiding, and we didn’t see them. African painted dogs are known for their large, round ears and beautifully “painted”, multi-colored coats. At the turn of the 20th century there were more than 500,000 painted dogs in 39 countries. Today, there are less than 5000 dogs in Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa combined. For the African painted dog, cooperation is the name of the game. Painted dogs live in large, extended families, in which all group members work together for the good of the pack. The leaders of the pack, an alpha male and female, are the only ones that breed. Instead of leaving the pack, their offspring stick around as adults and help raise their younger siblings. Painted dogs give birth to an average of 10 pups in a single litter! We also enjoyed watching Bibi and Fiona, the hippopotami lumbering around and swimming and the polar bears swimming and playing with a big ball. The meerkats are always fun to watch, as are the gibbons and monkeys swinging around. The zebras were having fun galloping around their enclosure. I have put some extras of other animals.