Knoxville Zoological gardens

So I had a little time to kill this afternoon and thought I'd check out the Zoo as it had a lot of good reviews and it was pretty good but I think I need to stop going to zoos as it's pretty sad to see some of the animals pacing or swaying which are just indicators that they're bored out of their skulls. Animals that should be out in huge open pens and are kept in small enclosures like the lions and elephants. Even the red panda was pacing and I realise that these zoos do good things for breeding programs etc but it just breaks my heart to see some of these animals displaying these behaviours. And I guess I'm just contributing to the problem by visiting the zoo. It was pretty cute to see some of the kids reactions to the animals though and I guess that's also why these places exist.

this black bear was staring at me for about 3 mins while he was in the water... bit spooky

sleepy red panda

Not sure what these guys were waiting for at the door but they were still there an hour later when I walked back that way

this guy musta been laughing at the others cuz he was just casually munching on the grass while they were waiting at the door.

guess it's officially spring cuz the daffodils are out!

this was a really neat wall that had lots of clay tiles and names of the animal sponsors on it.

a close up

this guy was gorgeous. It's wood duck

and even the lady wood duck has great coloring

and I think this guy was a northern shoveler if my memory serves me and he just sat there in front of me for about 5 mins

Not really sure what this is but they're fat and so cute! There was a whole bunch of them eating stuff in the grass

this guy broke my heart. He was doing the swaying movements and was kept in a pretty small enclosure for such a large animal. And he was alone as I think his normal companion was inside.

No tusks

I just loved the markings of this gal and took a zillion photos but this is probably the best :)

Caught him mid yawn :)

hey! are you lookin at me?????

the lion enclosure was being remodeled so this was the best pic I could get of the ladies

yay a squirrel stands still so that I can get a decent pic!

this guy seemed so sad as he was sitting there just picking stuff from the hay and then he rolled over and stuck his legs up the wall and started picking his nose. Typical guy, just chillin ;}

This red wolf made me think of the dog on the tuckerbox

yup yup a Sassafras Tree :)