We took the kids to visit the St. Louis Zoo on Saturday. What a gorgeous day it was to be outside. Fortunately, the temperature stayed around 70 degrees, so we didn’t have to tote Mister’s cooling bag all over the zoo with us.
One of my favorite attractions is the elephants.
St. Louis Zoo is currently adding to their elephant enclosure. They currently have two pregnant elephants, so I suppose they need the space.
I can remember when Raja, pictured below, was born in 1992. I was a Sophomore in high school. He was born two days after Christmas, and was probably the best late Christmas present St. Louis had received in a while! Raja was the first elephant born at St. Louis Zoo.
Raja has proudly sired three little elephants (one of which was sadly stillborn in utero in 2005). Maliha was born in August 2006 and Jade was born in February 2007.
It has been confirmed that Raja is going to be Big Daddy again. Those two pregnant elephants? Yep. Ellie (age 38) and Rani (age 14) are both expecting calves in the summer of 2011.
Because fewer than 35,000 Asian elephants are alive in the wild, St. Louis Zoo is dedicated to the care and conservation of these wildly beautiful creatures.
Of course, we saw more than just the elephants while visiting the zoo.
There were zebra’s…
and ostrich…
and giraffe…
and camel…
and penguin…
and of course, the carousel…
But, like I said, my favorite are the elephants…
If you are planning to visit St. Louis, the St. Louis Zoo is a MUST see. It is recognized as one of the top ten zoo’s in the United States by America’s Best Online.
Visit St. Louis Zoo’s homepage to learn more about their conservation efforts.
Become a fan of St. Louis Zoo’s on Facebook.
Follow St. Louis Zoo’s on Twitter.
In my humble opinion, it is THE BEST!
Be blessed,
Virginia
Lady V dZine
Nice photos! I love this Zoo! Certainly one of the nation’s best, and one of the best 2 or 3 in the Midwest.
Allen Nyhuis, Coauthor: America’s Best Zoos