Let the Zoo visits Begin!

In the Zoo newsletter last week they mentioned that their stingrays had arrived. I got super excited and since yesterday was a nice day, I packed up our stuff and headed to the zoo. I took Tash lots last year, but she was still not really old enough to thoroughly enjoy the zoo, so I was really hoping now that she's older, she'd enjoy it more.

We arrived just as the doors opened for the exhibit and were able to get in a nice spot to see the Stingrays go round and round the pool. Each time they came by us Tash would point at them and giggle, it was so cute! The exhibitor gave a great presentation as well, I learned quite a few things I did not know about stingrays;

- Without a blood test, they are unable to tell which are males and which are females until they are 4-5 yrs old. At that point the males will change shape!
- The females carry the eggs inside them, the babies hatch inside them, then emerge (?) and the mom re-obsorbs the egg shells
- They have a lifespan of up to 20 years!
- They arrive at the zoo inside plastic bags just like fish! They have to put them in the pool in the bags, and once they are adjusted to the water they let them out. For this reason they are only getting 10 at a time.
- These stingrays are from New Jersey and Florida, where they are over populated due to the hunting/killing of sharks which are their natural predators. Since they are low in numbers due to hunting, the stingrays are thriving a bit too well.
- They like shrimp and most eat clams but the ones at the zoo hate clams!

If you are in Calgary, I highly recommended checking out the Stingrays. The guy said they will be allowing touching/feeding of them around the end of March. :0)

Pictures from the zoo! I'm not sure why I take my camera anymore, I have like a bazillion photos of the animals there. Especially ones in the African exhibit, my favourite part of the zoo. :0)