Tulsa Zoo: Summer Fun Idea for All Ages

One of my fondest childhood memories was the many times that my family and I took trips to the Tulsa Zoo. Recently, on Spring Break, I had a chance to relive those memories. My mother, my sisters, my brother-in-law, my nieces, my nephew, my aunt, and her grandkids all took a trip to the Tulsa Zoo.

The first thing we did when we arrived was get inside and await the arrival of my aunt. Once she arrived, our adventure was on, as we headed off into the massive zoo. Our first stop was the elephant exhibit and habitat.

The elephant exhibit/habitat was quite an experience. Not only are there elephants there, but they also have an inside structure where you can learn about elephants. You can learn about them by checking out the different areas of the exhibit. Everything from the history of the elephant to the actual biology and anatomy of the elephant.

After the elephants, we were off to see what else the zoo had to offer. As we wandered around, we came across the Rhinoceros habitat. Being that it was a hot day, the Rhinoceros were laying around in the shade and mud to stay cool.

From there, we headed towards a small, multi-animal habitat area. This habitat area contained several animals. It contained the cute little meerkats from The Lion King fame. Also, there were Guenther's dik-dik's, which are a small relative of the deer. Also, there were leopard tortoises and a couple of cheetah's.

After that, we were off to see the Aldabra tortoises be fed. At the time that we were there, there were a total of 5 Aldabra tortoises. They each had a name as well: Dozer (so named because he appears to have a scoop on the front of his shell), Big Al (he was the longest of the 5 and also the oldest, at 90 years old), ToF (which stands for Tons of Fun), Mo (the widest of the 5), and Kadabra (who was the smallest of the bunch, he also has a defect in his shell, which they believe is due to poor nutrition).

According to Russ Barker, care taker of the Aldabra tortoises, they love to have their shells patted and scratched. One thing, though, you want to be careful when interacting with them because they do have poor eyesight and may think that your fingers are a tasty treat.

Also according to Mr. Barker, the Aldabra tortoise can lay up to 23 clutches of eggs a year. Similar to other reptiles, the Aldabra will travel to a certain place, dig a hole, lay the eggs, bury them, and then take off leaving the eggs to fend for themselves. When asked how gender is determined, Mr. Barker told the audience that gender is determined by the temperature of the eggs at time of hatching. Generally, the warmer the egg, the more likely of the tortoise being a female.

After viewing the Aldabra tortoises being fed, we headed on to deeper areas of the zoo. Our next stop was an authentic Maasai village. The Maasai culture were a group of people that lived mostly in South and Central Kenya south across the border into Tanzania.

Some of the animals from that area were also on display in the same area. Marabar storks, guinea fowl, African buffalo, and the reticulated giraffe. Also, in this area, we witnessed something that makes me glad to be living in the US. In this area of Africa, they have termites that build 25 ft mounds called Termitaria. After that, we stopped to eat lunch and rest up before we continued our adventures in the Tulsa Zoo.

After lunch, we headed to the Children's Zoo. One thing that the Children's Zoo included was a small petting zoo. It was a real treat to get to see all of the kids in the petting zoo, petting the goats and sheep. This was not the only attraction of the Children's Zoo. There were other animals to see as well. The red kangaroo, the emu, the peacock, some playful North American river otters, and some frisky and playful prairie dogs.

Something to look at in this area of the zoo were the animals called Antique Animals. These include, but are not limited to, Cicilian donkeys, bronze turkeys, and Barbados sheep. When I first saw the name, Antique Animals, I was like what are Antique Animals? Well, it turns out, they are animals that, at one time or another, were used for faming, but have since been replaced.

After this, we were off the hot, sweltering rain forest. Along with the recreated environment, this area of the zoo is also home to a number of animals that can primarily be found in the rain forest. From aquatic life such as Dwarf Cayman Alligators, Suriname Toads, Lungfish, and Piranhas to other animals such as a 12 ft, 100 lb python, fruit bats, black howler monkeys, yellow-footed tortoises, and jaguars. Something else resident to the rain forest, giant wood roaches, that are at least 3 or 4 times the size of roaches here in the US.

After escaping the sweltering rain forest, we headed deeper into the zoo and came to the Conservation Center. The center is used primarily to house several different animals that have nowhere else to go, but also to house eggs that animals in the zoo lay.

Outside of the center there were even more animals. There were flamingos, a sea lion show, and my favorite, the penguins. Around the same area, there were also Siberian tigers, African lions, and, oh my, spectacled and brown bears. There were also black and white ruffed lemurs and elks.

After all of this, we were clear at the back of the zoo and decided to ride the train back to the entrance, instead of walking all that way. The nice thing about the train is it took us back through most of the areas we had visited on our adventure.

Granted their were other areas of the zoo that we did not get to on our adventures, but by this time, it was getting real late and we still had to drive home. Of course, who could visit the zoo without the visiting the gift shop. So we did and bought some gifts for the kids while my niece spent her own, hard earned money, to ride the carousel.

After it was all over, my niece Annabelle T. said her favorite part of the trip was "riding" the carousel. My brother-in-law Dustyn W. said his favorite part was "seeing the animals." My sister Rebecca T., after an exhausting day, said her favorite part was "when we left." My mother Nancy S. said her favorite part was probably "the meerkats." My favorite part of the whole trip was the trip itself and the opportunity to relive my childhood memories.