Around Singapore - The Zoo

Yes, another trip to yet another animal park! They seem to be pretty popular around here. So far of the three parks we have visited, the Singapore Zoo is the most impressive. I have gone twice now, the first time with Jonah's kindergarten class and the second time with all of us. It is very large and even after visiting twice, we still have not been able to see the entire park!

I think the biggest draw for the kids is the mini-water park inside. They love it and could spend the whole day there. The next best thing is that the majority of the monkeys are free ranging, so there are monkeys everywhere and they come quite close - very exciting! Another part that I thought was really fun was the Tropical Crops garden - it shows all of the local crops and trees that grow in this region, it was great!

The zoo is on a small peninsula, so there are boat rides around the zoo and the animals can be seen from the boats - which is pretty cool. The boys really loved watching the Proboscis Monkeys and the Hamadryas Baboons - they are hilarious and kept us amazed for some time.

They also have lots of shows for all ages and some really great restaurants! And we also saw areas where you can ride horses, feed kangaroos, pet walruses, and feed and even ride elephants! WOW! The boys already want to go back next weekend. Here are some photos.

Oh, I almost forgot - a quick story. . . when I chaperoned Jonah's class trip to the zoo, some of the most popular animals to see were the white tigers. The zoo has three of them and they are beautiful and the kids spent lots of time watching them. Then, just two days later we read in the newspaper that a zoo worker (apparently dazed and a little crazed) jumped into the moat surrounding those very same tigers, and the tigers ate him! Yikes! Very sad but the zoo did not put any blame on the tigers at all and closed down the tiger area for only a couple days.

Fun Facts!

• White tigers have beautiful light blue eyes and are very rare. It is said that all white tigers originated from one single white tiger who was captured in India in 1915 - his name was Mohan and he is said to have sired dozens of cubs.


• The zoo has two polar bears who live in a giant cold water and ice area but they are exposed to more sun that they normally would be, so their fur actually grows green moss on it - just like on a sloth.


• In the Tropical Crops gardens we saw enormous water lily pads. Apparently they can grow to about five feet across and are strong enough to hold small children! Whoa!