A Real Bearcat

Bearcat nameplate at zoo
 

Bearcat in nocturnal house
 

Nightime at the Zoo

Walkway across Vine Street to Zoo is fun:
 

Madcap Puppets always put on a great show. This one with black light on the puppets and the puppeteers all in black and invisible.
 

New Zoo Entrance

I've been holding back on my comments about the new pedestrian bridge over Vine Street until I had a chance to use the entrance myself. When I saw it under construction, I originally thought they were going to make it work with a gentle ramp up from the lot to a point further north where Vine Street goes downhill. Since both the parking lot and the zoo side of the street both are hills, it seems like there were ways to design this bridge so as to avoid the troublesome elevators and steps. I also didn't like the folksy look at the new entry buildings. There are some pretty nice buildings in the zoo, and until now they have avoided this aesthetic.

So last weekend I finally entered this way, and was pleasantly surprised. Simply put, the new entrance is a great success.

The one problem I have heard reported is that the elevators cannot move enough strollers fast enough. I didn't see any evidence of this, as we took our stroller up the escalator, as did many others.

Vine Street Entry a few years ago:

The same corner today:
 

The entry in the 60's:

Vine and Erkenbrecker a hundred years ago:

historic photos from here

Here is the new entry building, located in the new parking lot west of the zoo, across Vine Street:

You have a choice of Escalator and Elevator:

Bridge:

Bridge Entrance:

Ticket Gate:

Membership Building. Up close these buildings are not as bad as I originally thought. They actually are pretty nice, and function well too:

Solar Ticket Machines:

A bonus shot of Rhino with missing horn:

Our favorite exhibit lately has been the nocturnal house. Yours?

Tortise Advance

Seen at the zoo today:

 

And copulation:

 

Daddy Zebra