Belize Zoo!

Wednesday morning we headed toward Belize City to go to the Belize Zoo! Drive time was about 50 min from our apartment. Cost was $40US ($15 each for Kris and me, $5 per kiddo), a price that I thought was a bit steep for a zoo until we got inside. This place was majestic. A friend from church explained it like this: "Most zoos in the States look like they build the exhibits and then put the animals in it. The Belize Zoo looks like the exhibits were built around where the animals were already living." It was so true! There were gravel paths to follow through from one animal to another and the exhibits were fenced in, but the lush jungle was everywhere! The zoo began in 1983 with 17 animals that were left from the filming of a natural history documentary. It now features over 125 animals of over 35 species in their natural habitats. All the animals at the zoo are indigenous to Belize and many of them are also endangered. None of the animals were taken from the wild, all the animals were rescued in one form or another. Some had been pets (like the ocelot and spider monkey), others were found in the wild but were injured (broken limbs, gunshot wounds, etc), others were abused... The Belize Zoo created a home for these animals. We were blessed to have a zoo employee named Ben walk with us for a while, answering all our questions and even luring some of the animals out of hiding!

Tapir

First we saw the Tapir (pronounced tape-er), the national animal of Belize. These are some weird looking creatures! Apparently they are brothers to the rhinoceros; they have an elongated nose/snout, but no horn like the rhino. Their feet are not hooves, but 4 toes! One tapir in the zoo is 28 years old, another young one was only 7 months old- the first one ever to be born in captivity. When tapirs are born, they have spots, but the spots disappear by the time they are 3-4 months old. We found the 3 spider monkeys high in the treetops. Watching them gracefully swing and move from branch to branch was amazing. Ben said they rarely fall, but they are very territorial and can get aggressive. They don't like strangers and Ben said if he tried to bring someone new into their exhibit (to help clean up or feed them) they just might break off sticks and throw them at him- yikes! One spider monkey came down to the ground near the fence (which was electrified), Ben said he was looking for a treat. Kris remarked that since there wasn't a top on the exhibit, the monkeys could just leave if they wanted to. Ben said that was true, but they don't leave because they know where their food comes from. We next came upon a small pond that was full of freshwater fish (which we didn't see) and turtles (which we did see, at least 4 of them)! Ben was carrying a plastic container which he started tapping on the wooden railing. Suddenly a small (about 4 ft) crocodile came swimming toward us from across the pond! It stopped about halfway and just sat floating, watching us. Jonathan asked Ben if the crocs eat the turtles. Ben replied no and he showed us a wooden raft at one end of the pond. He said that the turtles and crocs will lie on the raft together and enjoy the warm sunshine!

Ocelot

Puma

 Next was the Ocelot, which looks like a leopard, but is much smaller. All we could see were trees and vines until Ben started tapping that plastic container on the railing again. Sure enough out comes the Ocelot! What a beautiful creature! It walked back and forth along the fence rubbing its face just like a domestic cat would! Ben opened the plastic container which was filled with raw chicken parts and dropped a chicken foot through the fence to Little Ocelot, who consumed the foot- bones and all in about 2 gulps! We came to the Puma next. We saw the large cat lying in the back of the exhibit, but Ben worked his magic and the cat moved slowly up to the fence near us. This was a big BIG cat, we'd guess it weighed about 150lbs! It bared its big fangs as Ben dropped in some chicken, which it happily swallowed whole! Sadly Ben had to attend to some other business but we thanked him for his time and knowledge and we moved on.

Poor little Howler Monkey

At first we thought the Howler Monkeys were nowhere to be found, but then Kris used his knife and tapped the railing and one swung down from the trees to the grass. Sadly we had no treat for him, but he hung out eating grass anyways. This little guy appeared to be missing an eye and had a lame arm, which the boys found fascinating and wanted to know what had happened to him. In typical Belize fashion, the skies opened up and it rained pretty hard for about 15 minutes. We sought shelter under some palm trees next to the Scarlet Macaws. One was named Charlie, and they actually talked to us! Jonathan and Aaron had a blast saying "Hello" and listening to the parrots say "Hello" back; they also said "Goodbye" too. One second they'd be happily talking to us and the next they'd start pecking at each other (which the boys thought was hilarious).

Talking Scarlet Macaws

Talking to the Macaws

How our wingspan compares to that of the stork!

The Jaguar!

 Once the rain subsided, we moved onto the storks and crocodiles. The black headed storks were at least 5ft tall! Kris' tapping trick brought out a big brown Morelet's crocodile (doesn't grow longer than 10ft) who looked up at us with only his creepy eyes and nostrils sticking out of the water, looking like he was expecting a treat. Here we met a couple from San Francisco, who'd been in Belize for a week. Around the other side of the croc area was the Jaguar. Jonathan had been waiting and waiting for this! All the other cats in the zoo were tiny compared to this beast (whom we're guessing weighed at least 250lbs) that lay nonchalantly across a palm tree trunk. I watched it until it blinked just to be sure it was actually real! The Jaguar was about 6feet long not including the tail, which is 30 inches long (info gathered from the Belize Zoo website). Then I heard Kris gasp and I turned around to see a HUGE American crocodile (at least 12 feet long) just feet away, separated from us by a 4ft high wall, with its head away from us, mouth wide open. It stayed that way so long that I was sure it was a statue, but then suddenly it propelled itself forward into the water in one motion, causing a huge splash!

Big American Croc!

As we headed back toward the exit we saw a Harpy Eagle (which makes a weird squeaky noise), the Jaguarondi named Halan (which doesn’t look much like a Jaguar at all, it was small and brown) and the Grey Fox.

Zoo in the Jungle!

 Oh, I almost forgot, we also got up close and personal with a boa constrictor! It was a female and was 6 ft long. Kris held it around his neck and arms. Then Jonathan said he wanted to hold it too. I was a bit afraid that he’d shrink away at the last second like he did with the iguana, and we explained that he had to hold really still while the gal put the snake on him, but he still really wanted to do it. His grin was the biggest I’d seen all day while he was holding that snake! For those that are wondering, no I did not hold the snake, but I did pet it for a while (yes having 2 boys has definitely stretched my comfort zone a bit)!

Kris w/ Boa

J with Boa

Yes I'd certainly say the trip to the Belize Zoo was worth every penny!

Pretty Flower

Weird Flower

Another pretty flower

Tree bark covered with thorns!

Sweet Brothers!