Happy Holiday

On New Years Day I visited Adelaide Zoo with Tobias. I was determined to go, and having our grandson with us provided the perfect "excuse"! My motive was to go and see Wang Wang and Funi the pandas. I had never seen real live pandas and this was an opportunity I couldn't miss. It was an extremely hot Adelaide summer's day, but the pandas have a wonderful enclosure where they are protected from the worst of it. Funi (the female) had a big "popsicle" which had pieces of fruit and bamboo leaves frozen into it, and she was making a determined effort to get at the goodies in the ice.

I remember seeing a comedy skit years ago involving a couple of guys dressed as pandas, as the panda exhibit in a zoo, and it was brought to mind when I saw Funi and Wang Wang. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was a zipper there somewhere and I was looking at a couple of guys in panda suits! The animals don't look real to me, maybe animated soft toys (or men in suits). Pandas don't have expressive faces, even though they are just about as cute as you can imagine any animal to be (this has something to do with the huge muscle mass they need in their jaws for all that bamboo chewing they do, making them look somewhat toylike). I'm so pleased I had the chance to see them and got some good shots. Tobias was more interested in climbing on things and pressing the buttons on the interactive displays than the animals, but he had a fun day with Nanny and Poppa and we had a lovely day with our adorable grandson :o)
I'm inspired to make a panda now :o)