Pics from the Dublin Zoo

As some of you may have guessed, I kind of dig animals. And zoos. A lot. My favorite thing to do while we were in Shanghai, remember, was bike over to the zoo for the day. Of course, at a zoo in China, watching the people and how they interact with the animals (imagine: no safety precautions or apparent concern for personal safety) was part of the entertainment.
So, of course, while we were in Dublin, we had to check out the zoo. The guide book gave it three stars. Not much in Frommer's gets three stars. Why the heck do I still pay attention to these books? They are such poop!
Anyway. . .onto the zoo.
Here I am standing outside the zoo on an amazing day. Really sunny and warm. Look how big and pregnant I am. Fortunately, I did not feel this large.

Quite hilarious! I don't know that I have ever seen a hippo habitat where the dancers of the depths actually have enough space to get out of their tanks. Very impressive.

Actually, most of the habitats were very impressive. They were crap for taking pictures because all the animal viewing areas were through glass and the pics just don't come out right, but you get up close and personal with lions and tigers and bears, oh my!!!

PS: If I start to feel as huge as this hippo, I'll make sure to post a comparison picture.

Next up is a Mama and her little one. This orang just looked so soulful holding her baby. It was really impressive. They were completely caught up in the moment.

Finally, you know my favorite animal is the red panda. I cannot resist these cuties!!! They certainly like the Irish climate better than Shanghai, because these guys certainly were active. Don't you just want to have a cuddle with this one?
This furball was curled up and sleeping while I was taking dozens of photos of his more active buddies. Right as we were about to leave, he looked up and seemingly gave me the stink eye for making such a commotion. I quickly got all the pics I could and then he turned around again to resume his nap.
Overall, we thought the Dublin Zoo was about the most progressive thing we had ever seen. Lots of space for the animals and they all had some sort of family unit in their environments. Their African Plains exhibit is quite impressive and is something like 60 acres or so. A total must-see, even if the ticket was three times or so what you expect to pay at a zoo. At least with all the neat exhibits, you know your money is going toward something worthwhile.
My favorite part? The South American animals. It was a little tiny thing of a building tucked away behind the Starbucks, but they had a great selection of sloths (LOVE them and all their nasty parasites!) and the cute little tamarin monkeys.

Well, I just got word that our shipment from Ireland is headed toward our doorstep, so I will have to continue later. Probably a good thing, as few people are as interested in zoos as I am!