In the morning we made our way to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, a state run facility not far from us in New Mexico. It was COLD (29 degrees F) and started snowing while we were there. We were one of only 2 parties visiting the facility. It was a wonderful small zoo. Being so cold, a few of the animals were hidden away in their dens, but some, such as the moutain lions, bear, and mexican wolves were out meandering around! One of the mountain lions batted at a ball and pounced on its friend (mother?) It made a scratchy meowing noise, and the big one made a small roar. The little one came and sat in front of us. Ian laid down on the ground and the smaller one came over to look through the cage at him. Ian wondered what the cat was thinking. Dinner?
I thought it would be neat to design interactive toys for the cats, where visitors could remotely move objects in the cage to stimulate and play with the cats.
The boys liked seeing the bear eat. He crunched his food loudly but delicately, not at all like roscoe. He sat on his haunches like a dog, and ate off a small raised table, while still sitting on his haunches. There was something comical about this posture, like a little tea party for one.
There was a nice reptile house with a gila monster and several different types of rattlesnakes. rat snakes, corn and king snakes. I also liked the roadrunners that were in the aviary.
We drove the rest of the day, through Tucson, to BLM land near Ironwood National Park in Arizona NW of Tucson.
