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No Pamphlet or Ticket
August 26th, 1997
The National Zoo is part of the Smithsonian; The Zoo is free to the public and is open every day of the year except December 25th. Hours: April 2 - October 28, 2006: Grounds open: 6 AM – 8 PM; Buildings open: 10 AM – 6 PM; October 29, 2006 - March 10, 2007: Grounds open: 6 AM – 6 PM; Buildings open: 10 AM – 4:30 PM. The Zoo is located at: 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW. This is one of the places with actual parking. I don't believe there is a charge; if so, it would be minimal. The main attraction of the Zoo are the Pandas. The Zoo hosts the normal menagerie of animals from elephants to big cats and primates. There is a barnyard petting area as well as some aquatic areas. There are food and beverages available, restrooms, water fountains, and a gift shop. Donations appreciated.
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No Pamphlet or Ticket
September 29, 2006
We went to the Zoo again as the first time wasn't a great trip as it was with kids from school and was a field trip we were chaperoning and we only had a very short time there. See official site for Zoo days/hours. Now, I have more information about the Zoo. Although free, let me be the first to warn you... it's EXPENSIVE to park. Anything more than 3 hours is 16.00 and you will take at LEAST that long there. No, it's not because the animals are so plentiful but because the walking distance between exhibits is excruciating. Warning: Hills in some areas to climb that are pretty steep and so if you are elderly or ill or have small children, it will be very difficult. The Zoo is NOT the best I've been to, but there are some unique things about it. It does have a nice variety of species and the orangutan exhibit and "free ranging" monkeys are unique. The Orangutans or Apes have huge towers and ropes or cables that go long distance above the people. The free ranging monkeys can in essence, mingle with the people if they wanted to. They can go almost anywhere the trees are in the park if they can reach them. I am sure they prune them so they can't get out of the park or in certain areas, but they have a very large area to roam. The one problem is they are usually way high and don't mingle, so are hard to see. The Pandas are the main draw at the zoo, but this day, they were sleeping and not moving and you couldn't even see their faces as they were faced away from the crowd. I was disappointed and my disappointment continued with the lack of the promised Kangaroos and Wallaby's. I didn't see any. I did however, get to see a Meerkats which was awesome. They did have some unique animals there, but I do believe the San Diego Zoo looked better (then again, that was many years ago; who knows how it looks now). As a side note, there is food there but a little pricy. Also, the maps, which are usually free anywhere you go, cost $1 here. I tried to pick more unique animals for the photos below; but they do have a lion, tiger, giraffe, elephant, hippos, alligators, emus etc.
1) a Caracal 2) Red Ruffed Lemur 3) Flamingos 4) Golden Lion Tamarins 4) Giant Panda Sleeping
1) Pale-headed Saki (type of Monkey I guess) 2) Another Giant Panda Sleeping 3) Unknown Rodent type animal 4) Stork 5) Meerkat
Above:
Patagonian Mara (I think....and it's like a big rodent, but it's legs are like a
deer or something, so it sort of looks like a pygmy deer/rodent/goat thing!)
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