Things to Do in Wisconsin: Henry Vilas Zoo

For my second things-to-do-in-Wisconsin post of the day, I present something we did today, instead of something I’ve forgotten about for a number of weeks. (I still have more old adventures to slap up here, by the way. Maybe I’ll also get to those this weekend?)

Madison’s zoo is not very big. Not very big at all, actually—for you western Kansans out there, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not quite as big as the Great Bend zoo. It’s probably a great size zoo for little kids, though, since every time I go to the Denver Zoo, I see kids throwing tantrums because they just can’t take any more fun. (And let’s face it, I was one of them when I was little.)

This sign was at the entrance. It made me laugh. (Hee hee! It’s a puffin!)

For a little zoo, they’ve got some quality animals. Like rhinocerauseses:

Tapirs:

The tapirs attracted a good size crowd, since they were about the only animals near the entrance that were out and doing anything (we never saw the alleged lions and tigers, for instance). As Neal observed, most of the comments from onlookers were along the lines of “WOW! How ugly are those things?!” Poor tapirs.

There was a giraffe that obligingly looked right at my camera:

an otter who was still resting before having water fun times:

a cool black swan:

and pretty flamingos!:

There were a coupla big ol’ buffalo:

a big ol’ black bear (which Neal attested was bigger than any black bears he’s seen in the wild):

and the biggest hamsters I’ve ever seen:

OK, they’re capybaras (the largest rodents in the world). But I liked them because—well, look at them! They’re gigantic hamsters!

Finally, there were a few pretty birds (not as many as we were led to believe there would be in the Amazon habitat house):

And penguins. Which is good, because what zoo trip is truly complete without seeing penguins?