Smithsonian National Zoological Park

Smithsonian National Zoological Park
"National Zoo"
Washington DC

Noland grew up in the DC area so he has been there plenty of times. While for me, this was my first visit.

Date of Visit: Sunday, March 6, 2011

Highlights:

The zoo was big! There were a lot of different types of exhibits, which is a good thing because it will take up a whole day. Also, its FREE, there is absolutely NO COST to get into the zoo! So its a great thing to do if you are in the DC area. We packed a lunch in order to save money.

They had a lot of cool animals like the panda bear, cheetah, bird house, reptile house, ape house with an an orangutan - that was impressive. My favorite of all the animals in the zoo was the KOMODO DRAGON. It is awesome! They look like dinosaurs and I'm sure a little kid would be more amazed than I was. The spiders and snakes always creep me out but they were cool too.

Pictures:

cheetah! They are so fast!

 Here are the zebras! It was difficult to get a good picture of them and they smelled like manure so we just kept walking.

nice shot of a panda through some bamboo type plants.

 Panda bear! They were so cute but I didn't realize they were so big!

 This little guy is called the Red Panda but he is a member of the raccoon family.

 Toucan

This was some type of exotic animal similar to an ostrich. I will find out the name and get back to you but it totally came to us from a distance after calling, "here pretty birdie"

flamingoes. I think they look so funny when they curl up their necks and sit on their little bodies.

the fam!

meerkat - he looks a little fuzzy because he kept moving. but what a cutie, he looked just like Timon from the Lion King

Crocodile

another Croc

Giant Iguana! Oh my gosh! He was sooo cool!

Tortoise eating some grub.

Starfish

Huge Hermit crab.

Spiders. ew, they give me the creeps!

Here is the tiger. It was a somewhat cold day so he was just chillen in the sunlight.

Lions. They just had lion cubs. Unfortunately, they were not outside when we got there.

Golden Lion Tamarin

I was proud of Noland for remembering this little guy's name.

Disappointments:

There were a lot of exhibits that were empty which was disappointing because it makes you wonder if the animals died or are they going to put them back in there later.. Also, in the bird house, there were little mice in almost every display. Mice are just gross and carry germs. I am almost 100% positive they were not a part of the exhibit. I don't know if I will go back in the bird house the next time we go.

Overall Rating and Review:

Overall, I really had a great time at this zoo. There were parts that seemed to be under construction but they had enough animals that still allowed the visit to be a good one. And we really saw some neat and interesting animals. I didn't get pictures of everything but I did give you a sample of some of the animals you could see there. For more information on the National Zoo, check out their website. If you have any questions or disagreements, feel free to leave me a comment!

We gave this zoo a 4.5 out of 5 elephants. I  mean its FREE!

signing out. ♥jen