The Edinburgh Zoo.

What better way to avoid the depressing list of to-do's that inevitably makes up a university student's late October weekend than with a trip to the zoo?  I certainly can't think of one!  Who has time to worry about overdue readings, overdue library books and quickly coming-due papers when watching animals frolic in their not-so-natural environments?

This marvelous opportunity arose thanks to America making the suggestion.  She's only here for the semester, which is both kind of sad and also very handy.  It's handy in that she's got a lot more drive to go see and do things around town, and usually asks for company (and we all know I work best when forced to by others).  Daylight is in short supply already, and the zoo takes note of that in November by closing earlier so no better time than the present to see what it's about!  As usual, I was very pleased for the invitation to a day out.  Hit the jump for a bit of photo-blogging, a link to the album and some commentary.  To come: observations on living six degrees below the arctic circle and the sunless state it puts you in.

So here we go on a fabulous fall day to the Edinburgh Zoo!  This place is well known for a few things:

1. It is built on a hill - Not unusual in this city.  In fact I doubt much of Edinburgh isn't built on a hill, it's mostly hills around here.  Regardless, very decent exercise was had.
2. It has a phenomenal assortment of foliage - In fact, one of the most diverse tree collections around - made for a very scenic afternoon.  The overgrown landscaping creates some really beautiful enclosures.
3. THE PENGUINS - The Zoo was the first in the world (I learned just now on Wikipedia) to house and breed penguins, and they really are the stars of the show.  The penguin habitat is probably the key attraction; it's certainly the largest.  What they're really famous for is the penguin parade which happens every afternoon around 2:00.  More on that to follow.

We (America, Japan and I) left a bit after 11 that morning (intended on being earlier, but lack of readiness put a bit of a delay on the day).  It's about a twenty minute bus ride from our place to the zoo (a bit longer depending on the state of Princes and George Streets) and admission is £13 (minus £1 with our discount cards, minus the 10% donation included if you're stingy like us) so really £10.70.  To anyone wondering: completely worth it.  The park is very big and very intricate with over 180 species.  Most of the enclosures are well-designed for spectators as well as the animals.  You pass them on various sides depending which path you take, so you can almost always get a good look at what they're up to.

These guys are one of the first things you come across at the zoo - sea lions.  They're pretty funny to watch.  Mostly it's a lot of nose-in-the-air sunning, but you'll catch them having a bark or an itch or even going for a swim about.  They also have one of the best views in the park, I'd say.

Like I said earlier, it's a well thought-out zoo which offers both nicely designed enclosures (enormously less barren than ones I've seen in San Diego) and great accessibility to visitors (unlike some parts of the Toronto Zoo).  Not only that, but the animals seem very comfortable with their environments and carry on with their daily lives quite actively.  We got to see a lot of them up close and personal, enjoying the fresh air and limited sunshine.

The photo above is from part of the Australasia complex, one of several indoor exhibits that connect to outdoor enclosures (quite handy considering the changing seasons).  This room was full of birds from the region and it was exclusively indoors.  In fact, there were no grates or wall or barriers; the birds were flying and trotting about within reach.  The only divider was a row of stones separating the forest floor from the concrete we were on - really cool to see!

2:15 quickly rolled around and it was time for the penguin parade!  Above is a shot of one side of the penguin enclosure (both halves are a decent bit bigger than what you see here).  They're a really playful bunch and were having a great time running about and diving in and out of the water.  Although a good number were enjoying the sun and lying about like little beaked blobs of blubber too - very cute.  The parade route surrounds a smaller park with a play structure as well as a decked portion of the cafe patio.  It's well marked out and we arrived and took a place behind the yellow line to watch.

It's a voluntary activity (for the penguins, I mean), as the interpreter explains, so it starts off with the keepers gathering up whoever feels like a walk today.  Didn't get to see how they do it but they're a curious bunch of birds so I don't think it's very hard to convince them of anything.  The parade is led by a girl on a headset chatting about the types of penguins, etc, as well as a half dozen keepers - three leading the way and three following - whose job is mainly keeping the little guys focused on the task at hand.  They get pretty interested in some people and a little over-excited with each other at points, but the keepers break up the roughhousing and they quickly join the rest of the walk.

You can see one of many distracted moments above.  It's a pretty quick parade, but can't be missed if you make it to the zoo for the day.  They are full of personality and seem to love the attention.

We spent a little while hanging around the edges of their enclosure after the parade.  Like I said, they get quite curious and wander over to see what everyone's up to.  Couldn't get a photo without the grate in it, as they have a nibble at your fingers when you get in close.

We took far too many photos again, but really, who doesn't want their picture with a penguin?  After contemplating thieving one, we carried on and finished up what there was to see, which by that point was mostly just the monkeys.  Unfortunately my camera died by the time we got to them (there are three or four different areas with monkeys - all worth seeing!) but they are really fun to watch.  

The squirrel monkeys in particular were having a total blast.  It's terrifying how much energy they have and were fighting and playing tag and climbing and jumping ... I could have watched all day.  Every so often one would jump up to the ledge where we were watching and have a poke/lick/stare at the glass and the people behind it, jump around a bit, then realize we were going to be no fun and go back to the others.  This was made even more hilarious by the reactions of toddlers near by (mostly enthusiastic, but some people don't like monkeys at all, it turns out).

As for the rest of what we saw, you can have a look at the album.  I could go on all day about it, but neither of us want that.  It was a long and tiring afternoon, and it reminded me that I've got so much to see and do here.  I hope this will kick me into getting out more and taking more photos.  I'm hoping to do a post on my typical day and sights at some point, since I realized I will probably want photos of what I see and pass by every day.  More on that soon I hope!