The meercat

The meercat is from Africa, and I remember seeing several at Adelaide Zoo, and there certainly were quite a few at the Singapore Zoo.

These little fellows who have an inbuilt need to have one of their males "on watch" at all times, still continue this ritual desp;ite being in captivity. I find it fascinating that they continue this behaviour all the time. One of the meercat men will stand on a high spot and look out for predators, just as he would have done in the wilds of Africa.

Every hour the guard changes. Another male will appear and stand near the other guard and they spend a few minute surveying the area, before the first one leaves. Every hour - day in, day out, they continue with this ritual.

Singapore Zoo

Entrance

Got to be zebras.

Are they real?

I had been before - and it had not been a good experience, but it was a long time ago. My memory of that time is an overwhelming smell of "hippo poo", in very high humidity. They had little airconditioned pavilions where one could "rest" from the oppressive heat. So I was a little uncomfortable about visiting again.

What a change! The zoo has been updated - not surprising as it was so many years ago that I first visited. The animal enclosures were great - in fact it was hard to find a "cage" which one might have seen in an older type zoo. Moats and walls kept the animals confined safely away from visitors, and for the most par the animals looked happy.

There were little trains that plied their way around the zoo - one could get on and off at designated spots, and as it is a huge zoo, it was great not to have to walk the whole way. (Since MM had knee problems he was particularly happy about the train!)

We didn't manage to see ALL the exhibits, but were impressed with them all.

The Polar Bear exhibition was great - and several times a day there is a Zoo Attendant who leads the two polar bears into an exhibition and story about how they live, and how they feed.

And guess what! Not one whiff of hippo poo!!!