Fun at the Zoo!

WOW! It has been guite a busy summer for Richmond County 4-H Summer Fun members! Just yesterday we loaded up and traveled to the NC Zoo in Asheboro. 24 of us invaded the Zoo in search of animals (and plants) great and small! And we sure found them. The Zoo houses more than 1,000 animals and 40,000 plants along five miles of paths and we tried our best to find them all! The Zoo is divided into two sections, or continents. We started the day in Africa (and it only took us two hours to get there) and made our way to the North America Exhibit.

In the Africa section we saw everything from gorillas (one of my personal favorites), rhinos, chimpanzees, elephants, zebra, ostriches, sleepy lions, and patas monkeys. Ms. Wanda and Mr. Dave helped us learn about the animals while we waited out a bit of a storm watching the chimpanzees and we want to send them a huge THANK YOU!!

After lunch we jumped the Atlantic & headed to North America. One of our first stops was the bee exhibit that is supported by our very own Richmond County Beekeepers and Richmond County Farm Bureau. There was a hive set up inside with holes that allowed the bees to leave and visit their very own garden. Ms. Courtney Miller, teen helper and the day's photographer, got a couple good shots of the bees entering and exiting the building.

After we took a group shot with the REALLY big bee, we continued to see the animals of the Sonora Desert exhibit, which included road-runners and all kinds of tortoises. After leaving the desert, we saw a grizzly bear, elk, bison and black bear. The Zoo tries to be very environmentally friendly and they had an exhibit set up to help us see the power of movement and the sun.

We then traveled from the praire to the stream to meet several playful (and constantly moving - sorry Courtney) otters, snakes, fish and even a barred owl.

I think one of everyone's favorites was Wilhelm, the Zoo's polar bear. Wilhelm was playing in his pool and Courtney managed to get a couple really good shots of him. He is a special story because he was rescued from a circus where he was not fed the right things and often had to endure temps of 100+ degrees with no air conditioning. However, since coming to the Zoo, Wilhelm has all sorts of things to keep him cool and was having a great time yesterday!

Before taking a quick stop by the gift shop, we also got to meet puffins, sea lions, harbor seals, and a eagle who is new to the Zoo. Everyone did a really great job of playing the quiet game to help him get used to people.

We had a great time, and the rain even missed us for most of the day! Check here for all the great pictures & special thanks to our teen helpers Courtney Miller, Sarah Tyler, Logan Northcutt, and Jasmine Northcutt! We couldn't do Summer Fun without you all!!!