shutterbugDANCER

So back to the zoo today….  Today Rasha and Baby Belle were out in the pen.   They stayed in the corner eating hay,  it seems that the zookeepers put the food in the middle of the pen so people can watch, but I guess Rasha and Belle want their privacy when they eat, so Rasha brought some hay over to the corner.  I couldn’t get a good viewpoint for photos today.   Rasha spent a lot of time dusting herself today.   Baby Bowie wasn’t out again, I was talking to one of the zoo keepers  and it seems that Bowie (pronounced Booey… don’t ask me, that’s not how I would say it) was a little bit underweight when he was born at somewhere around 228 lbs. Belle was a big baby…. she was 330 lbs… about 25 lbs or so larger than most. 228 is a little bit under the normal weight, but it’s a safe weight. Rasha, who is Belle’s mom and also Bluebonnet’s mom (Bluebonnet: aka Bonnie, is Bowie’s mom) is used to being out in the public with her babies…. but Bluebonnet is a brand new mom… so they are very slowly introducing both Bluebonnet and Bowie out to the public.  So for this week, at least (maybe more) they want Bowie and his mom to bond some more and for Bowie to gain a little more weight before he comes out regularly. Belle is now about 400 lbs, but she’s still so tiny and has a little bit of fuzz all over her. I’ll go as often as I can (now that I’m a zoo member I can just drop in and see if Bowie is out… I’m also finding that the zoo people are all getting to know me)… I can’t wait to see him, he’s very fuzzy from what I hear. When I finally see him, I will post some photos. This morning the animals were all very active… it was a little cooler and I got there just as the zoo opened. I even saw the kangaroos up and about…

Rasha and her baby Belle

This is Colonel, one of the male elephants.  The other one is Casey…. Casey has only one tusk, Colonel has two.    Groucho is on loan to another zoo… I think in Denver, but I’m not 100% sure of that.