Stuttgart Zoo

We've been here for almost 5 years now and just went to the Stuttgart Zoo for the first time. I guess we've just never had much of a reason to visit it before. Not that Sam and I wouldn't have enjoyed a day at the zoo, but it is much more fun with a little girl in tow :)

The day after New Year's Sam was off work with nothing planned so we headed downtown to spend the day at the zoo. We had such a nice time and Elly really enjoyed seeing all the animals.

Some parts of the zoo are enclosed which is really nice on a chilly day. This section had lots of cacti which was kind of interesting.





I could spend hours watching the apes and monkeys. Sam, on the other hand, could not. So, he spent his time trying to hurry me up and I tried my best to ignore him :) They really are fascinating creatures to watch. This one (below) was apparently the patriarch of this group. He was huge and every time he got up to move the other apes scrambled away. He was quite intimidating to me even through the glass. At one point he was looking out at us and looking from one person to the next and it kind of freaked me out. You could just see the intelligence in his eyes.

There were also some really young apes in this group. They were so cute! Somehow, I guess I didn't get any pictures of the young ones on this day.



I did, however, get a picture of this adorable little guy (or girl). This was in the nursery section of the zoo. I wish I knew the story behind why this one is not with the mother. I don't know how old he/she is either, but seems very young.


Leave it to Sam to point out that this one (below) is giving us the finger. It was actually quite chilly the day we were there and they were huddling for warmth.








Two weeks later was another holiday, so we got with some friends and went to the zoo again. They go to our church and have only been in Germany a few months. When they first got here we kept bumping into them everywhere we went. They live just down the street from us and our girls have become best of friends so it's been really nice doing things with them.




I didn't get a good picture of it, but this ape was really watching the girls. They were just a couple of feet from him and he was looking right at them. I felt bad for him because he seemed bored.


Here is a better picture of this little ape in the nursery. I looked online to see if I could find the story behind why he/she is in the nursery, but got nothing. Each time I've been there I was hoping to see them give this one a bottle. It's in a crib with toys laying around. I would love to see this one in action :)



These were so much fun to watch. There were probably 20-30 babies and they were playing all over the place. One had this pink child's hat that it carried everywhere and would put down on the rocks to sit on. Smart little guy since it was pretty chilly that day. Others kept trying to take it away. Another one was swinging from an adult's tail. They are just so cute.

While we were there, a caretaker came to give them some apples. He would throw one to each monkey. They were great at catching them. Some managed to get a couple of apples and hold on to them with their feet while they ate another one.










I stole this picture (below) from Kristal because it was better than any that I took with my own camera. They are so cute!