In honor of Christmas, here’s a reindeer I photographed at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium a few years ago! BTW, only female reindeer retain antlers in the winter (they’re the only deer species in which both sexes have them), so Santa’s sleigh team would realistically all be girls!

More feathered friends on the same trip! Hooded mergansers, common goldeneye, mallard, and white-breasted nuthatch!

Went birdwatching the other day and saw many trumpeter swans!

Yes, this is an iPhone video, but it’s still the best footage I’ve ever gotten of Detroit Zoo’s beavers! In all my years of visiting the zoo, I’ve only seen these nocturnal rodents on three occasions, and they’ve all been after dark during Wildlights.

Crowned, ring-tailed, and red-ruffed lemurs in their indoor habitat!

Photos taken at Detroit Zoo

Greater rheas and sandhill cranes getting fed! Always a bit odd to see a ratite shorter than the cranes it shares its enclosure with!

Photos taken at Detroit Zoo

DYK? Unlike a camel’s, which stores fat, a bison’s hump is pure muscle!

Photos taken at Detroit Zoo

Fun fact the Walrus used to live in cape cod and sable island until the 1700s when they were wiped out by mass scale hunting.
#walrus #extinction

Little Spruce, I found at Stokes Forest in New Jersey #inaturalist #newjersey #spruce

Here are photos I took back in October of Jahari the pygmy hippo at the John Ball Zoo! This guy infamously killed a sitatunga that was intended to be his roommate back in 2023. On a lighter note, he’s also now a dad to Hugo, who was born back in September!

For my first post, here’s a polar bear I recently snapped at the Detroit Zoo!