A Hot June Afternoon At The Zoo

I went to the Denver Zoo yesterday afternoon to take a few photographs, despite knowing that with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-90s, most of the animals would be either inside or asleep in the shade. And I was not wrong - the tigers were inside enjoying the A/C, and the 4 bachelor lions were all sound asleep the entire time I was there. Happily, the African penguins didn't seem to care about the heat - they spent the entire afternoon swimming around their new compound, as seen in the photograph on the left. 

The hippopotamus was also in the water, as usual, seen in the photograph on the right receiving a treat from a zoo employee (I think it was a box of Fannie May chocolates, but I couldn't be sure). I missed much of that employee's spiel, but I did hear him say that this particular hippo has so many brothers and sisters that they were having a hard time finding a mate for him. And even if they did, he would probably have to relocate to a different zoo and give up his pool. Seems hardly worth it, especially if you get a box of chocolates every day.

Of course, most of the animals don't have such nice pools to hang out in during the summer. Virtually all of them who were outside were asleep in the shade, including the ones in the photograph on the left. This pair were in the zebra compound, but looked more like donkeys to me. They had no stripes, but did have black circular rings on their legs, and so I assume they are some kind of donkey hybrid. As I have said many times before, I am originally from the South Side of Chicago, where donkeys - not to mention zebras - are few and far between. I do remember a creature resembling Bigfoot wandering around the Dan Ryan Woods when I was a kid, but I suspect it was just a local denizen from a nearby tavern getting a breath of fresh air. Probably had a glass of Old Style beer waiting for him back at the bar.