Kansas City Zoo

Several of the zoos I’ve visited have flamingos out front. This is a nice bright entrance attraction, but I really liked the Kansas City Zoo that started with North American river otters in a pool!!

I like watching otters, and it was great that it was the first thing I saw when I came in. These are North American river otters, and they live throughout the United States and Canada, except on the Great Plains. There is also a southern river otter and neotropical river otter both look similar to the North American river otter, however they live in South America. I do not believe I’ve ever seen either the southern or neotropical river otters in zoos, I guess I need to keep looking.

After the river otters, I check out another aquatic (marine) mammal, the polar bear.

Just like the river otters, I like watching the polar bear swim in it’s pool. The two people in the last photo are getting up-close and personal to a polar bear.

The polar bear is the largest bear in the world, though the Kodiak brown bear actually has the record for the heaviest bear. Though the polar bear is larger, it has been filmed with the grizzly bear and the grizzly bear is more aggressive and will intimidate a polar bear. Speaking of interactions between polar bears and grizzly bears, due to climate change the two species are interacting more, and there are now some Grolar Bears (crosses between grizzly bears and polar bears)!

To get an idea of how large a polar bear is, I provide the following photo.

Yes, I’d be an easy meal for a polar bear!!

I now walk over to the “Tiger Trail” area, with a Bornean orangutan first up.

This would be the first Bornean orangutan I have seen. All the other zoos I have visited had Sumatran orangutans.

Orangutans are probably my favorite great ape. They seem to have a quiet intelligence that I really like. I imagine they can be aggressive but I’ve never seen it either at zoos or on documentaries. I have seen both at zoos and documentaries of gorillas and chimpanzees being aggressive.

I was very pleased to get some of my best photos of a red panda.

As I have mentioned in other zoo posts, the red panda is not closely related to the giant panda. Rather the red panda is more closely related to raccoons and coatis.

On the wall outside in this area was a nice mural.

From the cute and cuddly looking red panda, I go to the magnificent Sumatran tiger.

As with most other subspecies of tigers, the Sumatran tiger is highly endangered. It is the last of the group of tigers that lived on the Sunda Islands. The Bali and Javan tigers from this group of tigers are extinct.

Sticking with southeast Asia we have a few Francois’ langur, lion-tailed macaque, and a rhinoceros hornbill.

I have seen Francois’s langurs at other zoos. In fact, I find it fairly common in zoos I’ve visited. However, this is the first lion-tailed macaque I’ve seen, I believe. I think the lion-tailed macaque could be called the “lion-maned” macaque with the fur around it’s head.

As I’ve mentioned before, I really like hornbills. The rhinoceros hornbill is a fairly colorful bird.

As I wander through the zoo, I come across a unique building. It is a snake house. I am used to reptile houses, herpetariums, or reptile and amphibian houses. I believe this is the first reptile house I have been to devoted to snakes.

Another unique thing for this display, there were no venomous snakes. Also, half were large snakes like boas and pythons, but the rest were smaller snakes. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen a blood python. I know this is the first time I’ve seen a rhinoceros snake.

Next is an open aviary with birds from Asia, Australia, and Oceania (islands between Asia and Australia).

Most of these birds are from Australia, but some are from mainland Asia like the Mandarin duck. I think the Mandarin duck is probably the most colorful of the fresh water ducks, though the American wood duck is also colorful.

Even though the tawny frogmouth is a different color than the foliage, it seems to disappear in the second photo. Similarly, the pied imperial pigeon is white and black, but could be mistaken for a reflection of a leaf and shadow underneath.

I really enjoy walking through an aviary with the birds flying and singing around me. Sometimes I close my eyes and I can pretend I’m on a jungle safari.

We now head to the Down Under area, the Australia area. We start with a iconic Australian bird, the emu and the infamous dingo.

I have been told by bird trainers that emus are very difficult to train, because they aren’t real bright.

The dingo isn’t exactly native to Australia. They are descendants from the dogs (closely related to wolves) brought by the original aborigines. In fact, some scientists classify them as a wild “domesticated” dog. Having lived on their own for so long, they are now genetically distinct from other dogs or wolves.

Next another group of iconic Australian animals: wallabies.

I could not tell at the zoo or when looking at the photos whether the different wallabies were either Bennett’s wallaby or Parma wallaby. In either case, I find wallabies incredibly cute. The Bennett’s wallaby is more commonly known as the red-necked wallaby.

Just past the dingo habitat and wallabies, there is a gate to go through, this leads into an area where there are free roaming red kangaroos. The kangaroos tend to stay away from people, but sometimes I am told they will hop right in front of folks.

I next see a kangaroo, but not a red kangaroo but a tree kangaroo.

Of the 14 species of tree kangaroos, only two live in Australia. The rest live in New Guinea. The Matshie’s tree kangaroo lives only in an area called Huon Peninsula on the northeastern side of New Guinea. Many of the tree kangaroo species are endangered or critically endangered.

In the open area, I see red kangaroos.

The last photo was from strolling further and taken on the other side of the open area.

I come upon another small building and it has a laughing kookaburra and woma python.

I have seen the laughing kookaburra at several zoos. I have learned there are actually other species of kookaburra all are more colorful than the laughing kookaburra, especially the Rufous-bellied kookaburra.

Next are some dromedaries, also known as the one-humped camels.

It might seem odd for dromedaries to be near the Australian area and not the African area. However, it is believed there are no more naturally wild dromedaries in the world. All “wild” dromedaries are considered feral (were tame for awhile but now roam free). Some of the feral camels have been feral for hundreds of years. As for being near the Australian area, Australia imported dromedaries many years ago and there are many (about 50,000) feral dromedaries in Australia.

After walking a bit, I come across a small pond area behind plexiglass. This has some large American water birds, specifically black-necked swans and American white pelicans.

I think black-necked swans are very pretty.

Several years ago, I was at Yellowstone National Park and was surprised to learn that some American white pelicans nest in Wyoming, specifically Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks!! I think of pelicans as ocean birds.

A little further is a building where tropical animals are housed. There is a good mix of birds, mammals, and amphibians.

At first I thought this was only animals from South America, however the Prevost’s squirrel is from Asia. The Prevost’s squirrel is one of the most colorful squirrels I’ve ever seen.

Though I took several photos of the squirrel monkeys, only this one was decent. All the rest had the monkeys blurry because they kept jumping around. The sloth was right up next to the plexiglass, so this gave me a really good idea of their size. Sloths are larger than I expect them to be. This is probably because I often see them in the highest tree or rafter in an aviary.

All the frogs were poisonous, though the toad was not. I should say all the frogs would be poisonous in the wild. However, since they become poisonous because of the insects they eat in the wild, in zoos the frogs are not poisonous.

Outside is an American alligator pond. There are some bright koi goldfish in with the alligators.

I now go into the stingray petting building.

It was nice to go into a cooler building. I also had a nice chat with a zookeeper in there.

Across the path, is a habitat with Allen’s swamp monkeys.

I have been surprised how common this monkey is in zoos.

When I was at the Kansas City Zoo in 2022, they had another animal in this enclosure: koala.

Koalas are sometimes called koala bears. This is because they kind of look like a stuffed animal bear. However, koalas are a marsupial that eat only leaves. In fact, the main leaf they eat is from the eucalyptus tree, which is poisonous to most animals.

They next have an area with an alpaca and llama.

I have trouble telling the difference between alpacas and llamas. The alpaca has a rounder “cuter” face than llamas. Just as camels were important in African this close relative to the camel was/is important to people of South America. However, llamas are used for carrying stuff, while the alpaca is used for its wool.

I am now headed into the penguin house. First I see Humboldt penguins, these are fairly common penguins to see at zoos.

This zoo also has some gentoo penguins, king penguins, Macaroni penguins, and chinstrap penguins. The Humboldt penguins live in warmer areas than the rest of the penguins, which is why they were outside.

I like penguin exhibits that have underwater viewing.

I head over to the sea lion area, where they have shows.

The only sea lion I have seen in zoos is the California sea lion. I guess they are fairly easy to keep and draw a good crowd.

Back behind the sea lions is a building called “Tropics”. Even though there was pretty good attendance at the Kansas City Zoo the day I went, there weren’t many people in the building. It housed animals from South America, Africa, and Asia.

This was the first blue monkey I’ve seen, however when I read about them they are fairly common in western Africa.

The crested screamer and capybara are from grassy areas of South America. The capybara is almost as good of a swimmer as the beaver. Both the beaver and capybara are types of rodents, related to the rat. The crested screamer is sometimes called the southern screamer.

The white-faced saki and cotton-top tamarin are both types of smaller monkeys that live in the jungles of South America. However, while the cotton-top tamarin has a small range and is critically endangered, the white-faced saki has a larger range and is not even threatened. Though we may think of the jungles of South America being around the Amazon river, both of these monkeys live in the jungles north of the Amazon River Basin.

With the porcupines, the Cape porcupine is from South Africa and the Brazilian prehensile-tailed porcupine is from the jungles of South America. There are several species of prehensile-tailed porcupine. The Brazilian prehensile-tailed porcupine is sometimes just called the Brazilian porcupine. The Brazilian porcupine does live in the Amazon River Basin. It’s tail reminds me a lot of an American (Virginia) opossum.

The northern white-cheeked gibbon is from Asia, specifically from north Vietnam and north Laos. These gibbons, like most gibbons, are critically endangered. I really enjoy watching gibbons swing from place to place. When they call to each other they can be very loud.

Outside of the Tropics building, was a habitat with a Von der Decken’s hornbill.

This may have been the hornbill that inspired the character Zazu from the Lion King. Both birds in the first photo are Von der Decken’s hornbills, the one in the upper right corner is a female, she has a dark bill.

Though I did not get a good photo, the purple glossy starling is beautiful.

Next I head over to the elephants, specifically African elephants.

On hot days the elephants will go in under the yawning the zoo provides for them. I think this is a good idea. Zoos generally don’t have trees with elephants because the elephants will knock them down. All the elephants I saw were females.

After the elephants is a walk down to another section of the zoo. It is a fairly long walk, and goes over some railroad tracks. I sometimes walk down but ride the tram back. Today is warm enough that I take the tram both ways.

The first area of the lower zoo, is a replica of an African village. This is also where you can catch an aerial tramway over this part of the zoo. They use to have a boat ride as well, but I have not seen it operated in recent years.

I am here for looking at animals, so off I go to the right where I first see cheetahs and warthogs.

I think cheetahs are probably my favorite big cat. Many years ago, royalty would keep cheetahs as hunting animals, like some people keep dogs for hunting. A lot of those cheetahs came from Asia and the Asian cheetah is nearly extinct.

I have rarely seen warthogs doing anything but sleeping. On the warm day I was there, I didn’t blame them.

I now look out at the open area in this part of the zoo. I see African crowned cranes and scimitar oryx.

I have seen crowned cranes at several zoos, but never in the water. They were actually cleaning themselves.

The scimitar oryx are an endangered species. This is one of the largest herds of these oryx I’ve seen. Most the time zoos only have 4-5 of them. I imagine the Kansas City Zoo is part of a breeding program for the scimitar oryx.

The zoo has a suspended bridge over to another section in this area. This is supposed to be more of the jungle area of Africa. We start with a red-capped mangabey, a type of monkey and also a leopard.

The red-capped mangabey is an endangered monkey of west Africa. It is also sometimes called the collared mangabey.

Okay, leopards do occur in Africa. The African leopards are some of the few big cats not a threatened species. However, the Amur leopard, the one on display is from Asia, actually in a cooler part of Asia. The leopard has it’s head slightly up in the middle of the photo, in case you missed it.

Next up is another monkey as well as a lesser Kudu and red river hog.

I had not seen the mangabey monkeys at zoos before, however the Kansas City Zoo has two different kinds.

The lesser kudu and red river hog are fairly common at zoos. In fact, on the other side of the state of Missouri the St. Louis Zoo also has lesser kudus and red river hogs as well.

No African jungle area would be complete without gorillas.

Though moving around, it was generally a relaxing day for the gorillas, especially the male in the hammock.

I head back across the suspended bridge, and towards the African Savannah. There are a lot of things to see, both big and small.

Elands are the largest antelopes in the world. The giant eland is only a little bigger than the common eland, however it usually has more impressive horns and dewlap (skin hanging from the throat area). Both eland males can reach weights of over a ton. This means they are about the same weight as a domestic bull.

The addra gazelle, sometimes called the dama gazelle, is a critically endangered species. It lives mostly in the Sahara Desert.

The guineafowl has been domesticated. In some places they are kept a alarm animals. They can make a lot of noise when startled.

Across from the multi-species open area, are animals in individual enclosures. First up are some birds.

It is pretty obvious how the saddle-billed stork got its name. The secretary bird actually has really long legs, though not as long as storks and cranes. They wade through the grass, and when they find a small rodent, snake, or lizard they use their legs to kick it really hard. This will stun or kill the animal so the secretary bird can eat it.

Like the secretary bird, the ground hornbill spends most of its time on the ground. It walks around looking for food. Like the secretary bird it eats reptiles and rodents, as well as an occasional rabbit. This is quite different than their tree dwelling cousins that live on fruit and berries. When I visited the Kansas City Zoo in 2021 (last three photos of ground hornbill), the hornbill came up to the walkway and started trying to grab my shoe. The zoo has put a board up so the ground hornbill can’t do that anymore.

The final bird in this group are hooded vultures. These vultures are critically endangered, though they are distributed widely throughout Africa. In some areas of Africa they co-habitat with people fairly well.

As I move on, I now encounter a mix of animals, birds, reptiles, and mammals. With first up the Aldabra giant tortoise.

The Aldabra giant tortoise is about the same size as the Galapagos giant tortoise. It also lives as long, well over 100 years old.

The blue duiker and Kirk’s dik-dik are both small antelope. They tend to sleep during the day and only come out at night. It is amazing to me the range in size of antelope. The eland can weigh over a ton and the Kirk’s dik-dik is around 10-15 pounds (about the weight of a small dog).

The Bateleur eagle, which lives in Africa, has long wings and a fairly short tail. The long wings are built for hours of soaring, much like the African vultures. They are commonly seen on the outskirts at carcasses, since the large vultures dominate carcasses in Africa.

I head into a kind of side area, with a real mix of animals. The first animal I come across is a red-ruffed lemur.

I really like lemurs. It is nice to see a lemur other than the ring-tailed lemur, which is very common in zoos. With such a thick coat, it’s hard to imagine they live tropical rain forests.

Next up are some birds, starting with the silvery-cheeked hornbill.

The silvery-cheeked hornbill looks like it has a third bill on it’s head.

I have seen hamerkops at a couple of zoos now so I wanted to know more about them. They have a wide range in Africa and eat mostly amphibians and fish.

The superb starling is very colorful. It is hard to believe they are closely related to the common starling.

I now come upon a series of smaller mammals, with first a caracal. This smaller wild cat is famous for leaping into the air to grab birds before they fly away.

The black-footed cat looks very much like a domestic cat. However, they have not been domesticated, probably due to their habitat, arid areas of South Africa.

Both the fennec and bat-eared fox use their large ears to find prey. The bat-eared fox, that lives in south and east Africa, feeds on insects. While the fennec fox, that lives in the Sahara Desert, feeds on almost anything it can find, including rodents, lizards, snakes, birds, fruit, nuts, and like the bat-eared fox, insects.

The last animal in this area is a rock hyrax. These are considered the closest living relatives to elephants. I find that amazing.

Across the path from the small African mammals, is the largest African carnivore, the lion.

I have gone to many zoos, and a lot of them have lions. The lions are almost always sleeping. However, I have learned that in the wild it is also true that lions sleep a lot, especially when it is hot.

As I continue, I am at the chimpanzee habitat. The chimpanzees are actually up in some local trees! I have never seen apes in such an open environment.

I imagine this is wonderful for the chimpanzees. The zookeeper told me they come in most nights with little problem.

Across from the chimpanzees, is the other side of the African Savanna habitat. As is often the case, I spot giraffes first.

These are Masai giraffes, whereas at other zoos they often have the reticulated giraffe. Though they have long necks, they have the same number of neck bones as we do, 7.

Following the tallest mammal, is the tallest and heaviest bird the ostrich. The ostriches are mixed in with plains zebras.

Finally, one of my favorite animals, a black rhinoceros. I am surprised with how warm it is, the rhino isn’t in the mud. However, the back end in the first photos shows it was in the mud earlier.

Following the path, I see a small habitat with a yellow-billed stork, next to some leopard tortoises.

As you might guess both the stork and tortoise occur in Africa. Also, both have a fairly extensive range.

This is followed by a crocodile house.

It is kind of fitting that across from the African dwarf crocodile, are another famous aquatic African animal the hippopotamus.

They seem to be enjoying a little snooze in the sand. I know how they feel. They will need to get in the water before too long, since their skin is fairly sensitive.

A little further on we come across two more iconic African animals: African painted dogs and Guinea baboons.

The African painted dogs were resting, which is usually how I see them. I do have photos of them standing and moving when I visited the St. Louis Zoo.

The baboons were only a bit more active than the African wild dogs. There also seemed to be some interactions between the individual baboons.

I now take the tram-bus to the upper part of the zoo. Once there I go to the newest addition to the Kansas City Zoo, an aquarium!

When I use to live in Alaska, I liked to watch the sea otters. A group of sea otters floating on the surface is called a “raft of sea otters”. Sea otters were hunted for years because the fur is of such high quality. It is strange to me to see sea otters so far from the ocean.

This ends my trip to the Kansas City Zoo. It has been a lot of walking. However, the zoo had some nice displays and exhibits. For example, they are one of the only zoos with hooded vultures. I also have seen dingo at only one other zoo. I also liked walking around with uncaged kangaroos.

So this is the Zoo Guy to all you Zoo Folk out there, take the time to visit a zoo, maybe the Kansas City Zoo in Kansas City Missouri.