Last weekend, I went along on one of DH’s work trips to Omaha. Just before the trip, I had made the decision to buy a fancy new camera: Olympus PEN E-PL1 12.3MP Micro 4/3 in Slate Blue
The Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo is quite large. They have the largest big cat exhibit in North America, and they had just opened a new Madagascar exhibit hall. They also have an aquarium and a “desert dome.” But, my main purpose there was taking pictures and playing with my new toy while enjoying the zoo. I should note that, in a full day, I could not see it all. I had to prioritize at the end of the day. I ended up skipping the Lied Jungle building and the Butterfly & Insect Pavilion. Granted, I was also exhausted. The Accuweather “feels like” for that day was over a hundred. I ended up with a significant sunburn, too…my first painful sunburn of the summer, believe it or not.
The pictures are up in the gallery, but I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites from the day. The Ayur Leopard (below) heard a zookeeper walk into the service entrance near his (her?) enclosure. Immediately, (s)he began dancing about and pacing just like Pancake does when we first walk into the house. Clearly, the sound of that door slamming normally means that the leopard gets fed! (Note: The proportions in any of my inline pics will be off a bit. My blog scaler requires me to put in a fixed size, and so it squishes or stretches images to fit. If you click on the image, you can see the original.)
But, most of the big cats were napping, as cats do on hot days. I learned from the employee running the tram that Cheetahs have to be kept separately from other big cats, because they get nervous around other cats and will hide rather than being visible. So, Cheetahs at zoos are generally kept near prey animals instead of with the other big cats. Recollecting my zoo visits in the past, I realized that every zoo I’ve been to has kept the Cheetahs separate.
One of the Omaha Zoo’s big exhibits is the lemur attraction. You know how there’s often an Aviary at zoos, where birds roam free and the humans go in the “cage” with them? Omaha just opened an exhibit that is a Lemuriary, in that the lemurs roam free and the humans go in with them. There are several signs up front pointing out that you are required to stay six feet away from the lemurs, which can be a challenge because lemurs are curious.
The Omaha Zoo has several ways to get around inside the zoo, including a “Skyfari” (repurposed ski lift, a triple), trams, and a steam engine train. The train is a donation from the Union Pacific, and the two stations in the zoo are named after famous stops on the UP. Each car of the train is also named after stops along the UP. It was pretty cool, as a train game enthusiast, to see the Union Pacific logo on various things in Omaha.
The zoo has a “garden of the senses” that is planted with aromatic and touchable plants. In the garden, lots of birds sit on perches under shaded trellises, without anything between you and them. It was a bit daunting, but I got some good photos. Lest you think I’ve conquered my fears, I used my zoom lens and lots of cropping to get the pictures that appear close-up. 
My new camera let me get some reasonably decent photos of my favorite animal, despite the glass and darkened room that they’re kept in:
And, of course, much time was spent on the Meerkats:
