2025-08-18 Zürich Zoo

We went to the Zürich Zoo.

We started in the Australian section where they have a bunch of wallabies. You can enter the enclosure. There were three wallabies chasing each other, grunting. We suspected it was related to intercourse but when they stopped there was just short attempt at it and then they all preferred to drink water instead.

This is the red-necked wallaby, *Notamacropus rufogriseus*.

The same enclosure also has emus, *Dromaius novaehollandiae*.

We went on to see the guanaco, *Lama guanicoe*.

Next we saw some strange birds with strange, featherless heads. It's the northern bald ibis, *Geronticus eremita*. These used to be extinct in Switzerland but now they're back. They migrate south and so for rewilding, people had to adopt them and then fly with them across the alps with some ultralight flying vehicles. These days they fly to southern Spain instead, I heard. You can find some pictures about the project on the Swiss radio and television site.

We went to see the great cats because the zoo has a new setup wherein the tigers, lions and snow leopards move between enclosures every now and then. This keeps them more active because they smell the presence of the other great cats that were here before them. But as usual, the cats were asleep during the day.

There's also an "insect forest" where you can step into a room with a bunch of branches full of stick insects and the like.

When we went to eat a snack at the *Altes Klösterli* restaurant, we had a view at the back of the gelada enclosure, *Theropithecus gelada*.

The elephants are great. There's a young one with its mother and its aunt, all Asian elephants, *Elephas maximus*.

The rhinos are nearby. These are southern white rhinoceroses, *Ceratotherium simum simum*. Closing time was approaching and these were the first rhinos to come back into their enclosure from the outside, where they mingle with some antelopes and giraffes.

Outside, more rhinos, antelopes, ostriches and giraffes were still out and about.

These are reticulated giraffes, *Giraffa reticulata* and South African ostriches, *Struthio camelus australis*.

Nearby, the super cute meerkat, *Suricata suricatta*. One of them is always on the lookout.

And finally, on the way out, we walked through the Masoala hall. So beautiful!

The greatest moment was when we approached the bottom of one of the two towers. I walked around the corner and was looking at two red ruffed lemurs, *Varecia rubra*.

And then, we left!

#Zoo ​#Animals ​#Photography

• *2025-09-12**. Urgh. Just heard that the baby elephant died. 😭

• *2025-09-12**. Urgh. Just heard that the baby elephant died. 😭