One of the highlights of our the trip was our time at the Georgia Aquarium. This aquarium is second to none. The main tank named the Ocean Voyager is the size of a football field approximately 125 feet in width by 263 feet in length with the depth of 33 feet. I was told the Ocean Voyager tank holds 6.2 million gallons of water. All told there are over 8 million gallons of water within the aquarium. There are three whale sharks in the Ocean Voyager tank along with many other fish. Watching the whale sharks swim from the back of the tank into view is quite a sight. If you are interested in aquariums this is a must see if you are in the Atlanta area. The penguin area contains a very unique popup viewing opportunity within the exhibit giving the individuals the feeling they are part of the exhibit. The penguins also seemed to enjoy the experience of viewing the visitors from this angle.

Our next stop was Zoo Atlanta. Their main points of interest are the 4 troops of Gorillas and the Pandas. The primary troop consisted of three mothers and their four off springs along with a female (without infant) and the silverback. We enjoyed watching the interaction between the mothers and their infants. One mother was raising twins. We were told she has been raising the twins by herself for a longer period of time than any other female in captivity. The twins were born Oct. 31, 2005. Their mother Kuchi is an excellent mother who remains ever vigil of her babies. They cannot get more than an arms length from her when she will be reaching for the wandering baby and maintaining control of him. When the three of them move one will be on her back and the more adventurous one will be between her front legs so she maintains control of him.
The three younger adult females in the troup were all daughters of Kuchi.
The second mother of interest was a first time mother named Sukari who was inattentive to her baby. Sukari would wander off and leave her baby to fend for itself. She would leave the baby as much as fifty feet away. When the keepers were throwing oranges to the gorillas Sukari would take whatever pieces her baby found and take them away for herself and give the baby non of the treats.
The third Kuchi daughter, but was very much like her mother in being attentive towards her baby.

The next stop on our journey was the Memphis Zoo. The architecture of the zoo is representative of the Egyptian Age of the Pharaohs including hieroglyphics and their definitions engraved on the wall of the entrance. The new Northwest Passage exhibit is worth seeing. Payton, Haley and Cranberry are the three polar bears at Memphis Zoo. Cranberry was not on exhibit when we were there. Remember Payton and Haley when they were at Brookfield Zoo? Payton was one of our baby polar bears of a few years ago. Payton and Haley put on quite a show playing in the water right in front of us. Karan and I had the opportunity to have an extended conversation with the lead keeper of the Northwest Passage exhibit for which we are grateful for her time. She told us they absolutely love Payton and are thrilled to have him. The polar bear exhibit and the holding area are state of the art.
The Chinese Government and the Memphis Zoo are in colaboration on the Panda exhibit. The Memphis Zoo sends One Million Dollars to the Chinese Panda Bear Research Center in China for the furthering of the research of the Panda Species.
This zoo is one of our favorites. Its very attractive and there is plenty of room for the animals. There are two new exhibits under construction to be completed within the next two years.
As you can see from the last picture Haley was worn out by that rough and tough Chicago Bear Payton.

St. Louis Zoo

For us one of the highlights of the St. Louis Zoo is the opportunity to view the Hippos underwater. Visitors are able to watch the Hippos move about in the water. Its interesting to observe the interaction between the Hippo and the fish cleaning the Hippo.
We were told the St. Louis Zoo has two baby elephants however the youngest one is not on exhibit yet . We were able to watch the older seven month old baby elephant interacting with its mother in the back of the exhibit. I was able to get reasonably good pictures using a telephoto lens.

Paul