Bornean orangutan (male) “Rango” Age 36. The only great ape from Asia, orangutans are among the most endangered animals on earth.

What a privilege: a private tour by the person I’m convinced is the world’s best docent of the zoo rated #1 in the United States by Parent’s Magazine. That zoo and that docent (Jane Rubin) are right here in Tampa Bay, at the Lowry Park Zoo (www.lowryparkzoo.com), 1101 W. Sligh Ave., Tampa, FL 33604, 813-935-8552.

As was mentioned in The Jackson, Mississippi, Zoo, where my cousin, Donna, is the veterinary technician, zoos have come a long, long, long way from the dismal, depressing dungeons of my youth.

Today’s zoo keepers are animal activists and preservationists whose purpose extends way beyond just keeping animals in captivity for the entertainment of human animals.

For instance, take a look at the Commitment to Conservation page of the Lowry Park Zoo’s website. This is where the zoo’s efforts to continually look “for ways to enhance the animals’ lives through behavioral enrichment, operant conditioning and exhibit improvements” are discussed. Also described are their significant contributions to animal conservation.

On that page are links to four important subpages:

• Conservation In The Zoo
• Conservation Regionally
• Conservation Around The World
• Conservation Recycling Program

On the first of those pages, Conservation in the Zoo, we learn of the zoo’s three goals of education, conservation and research. Their mission is to “Connect People with the Living Earth.”

They are a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) which conserves wildlife through education, research, captive breeding for reintroduction, and fund-raising to support field conservation.

There are 40 animals at the Lowry Park Zoo that are part of the AZA Species Survival Plan® (SSP) program–they are listed on the Lowry Park Zoo’s Conservation In The Zoo page.

There’s so much to recommend this Tampa attraction. Anyone coming to a convention in Tampa should take an afternoon or morning and go. Any parent or grandparent living in the area should buy passes and spend time with their children and grandchildren there. I saw many photographers there and I learned that often they buy year passes and spend many hours there photographing the animals. For the kids, there’s a few rides, of course, but the main attraction are the animals.

All the pictures in this post were taken at the Lowry Park Zoo and Jane helped me identify the animals after I’d edited the pictures so I’d be sure to get everything properly labeled. (Any errors are mine!)

“Rango,” pictured at the beginning of the post is perhaps my favorite animal there; I relate to his sense of style. I learned from Jane that every year at holiday time, the volunteers bring the animals presents which the animals love to open. I’ll have to think of a suitable gift for Rango.

Support wildlife preservation and have a good time doing it: go to the Lowry Park Zoo.

Bornean orangutan (female) “Josie” age 25 & daughter, “Hadiah” age 5	Chimpanzee (female) “Rukiyah”
Colobus monkey – Angola	Siamang : female “Haddie” & male “Cyrus” & baby “Malu.”

Ringtailed lemur – Madagascar	Golden lion tamarin (Brazil)
Bolivian grey titi monkeys female “Leap” & male “Cleve”	Yellow-footed rock wallaby
emu	petting zoo goat
African penguin feeding session	Waterbuck (safari ride)

meerkat sentinel

Grevy’s zebra & white rhino	African elephant & Hartman mountain zebra
Reticulated giraffe male “Billy Bob” & Rothschild’s giraffe male “Randle”	Shoebill stork male “Mr. Zero”
Cheetah brothers “Chaka” & “Gaheeji”	Pygmy hippo Mother “ZzaZza” & daughter “Anakiya”
Maribou stork – sunning	Okapi female “Betty.” Okapis live only in the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and are so elusive that they only became known to the European world in 1901. It is the giraffes’ only relative.
Saddlebilled stork	Shoebill stork female “Binti” Hatched at Lowry Park Zoo 12/26/09. Binti is the ONLY shoebill hatched and reared by parents (without incubation or feeding intervention) anywhere in captivity in any accredited zoo.

Male giraffes (safari ride) “TangaTanga,” “Timmy” & “Benwa”