Dickerson Park Zoo

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The second stop of the day was the Dickerson Park Zoo. Contrary to other reviews I had read that said the zoo was really small, I found it was a decent size, though not as big as the Kansas City Zoo. The first area we came to was South America, which is home to Capuchin Monkeys, Maned Wolf, and Macaws among others.
Australia houses the kangaroos, Emus, Parrots, and the Petting Zoo. My daughter Kim runs ahead while Connor stays back with my wife Katy and me. The petting zoo is a chance for the kids to interact with goats, a donkey, and a young camel. Connor is hesitant to approach the camel as he always is with new experiences. Just a part of his shyness I suppose. I always hang back to try and get pictures of the kids with the animals, however this time there was another couple that kept getting in the shot. As a general rule I do not usually photograph other people or other kids.
The Missouri Habitats area gives you a look at some of the native animals that can be found right here in my home state. River Otters, raccoon, Mountain Lions, and Coyotes are a few of the displays here. Although a Raccoon is nothing new since I have one living in a part of my attic. Seeing the gray wolf was a great chance to prove to my wife that although rare, it still has a presence in Missouri. Two young black bears were playing together for a moment then walked to their own part of the exhibit area, enough to get a shot of them together.
The first animal in the Tropical Asia is the Malayan Tiger, though they were still in their cages. The Asian Elephants were standing against a wall, using their trunks to throw dust over themselves. I waited for several minutes for the first one to turn around since I did not want a shot of the elephants behind but he never turned around.
The last major section of the zoo is the Africa section, home to the Cheetah and its house mate a tortoise. I have never seen a cheetah housed with anything other than another cheetah. Another feature that I had not seen before was the public was allowed to feed the giraffes. Kim had to keep moving around as the matriarch of the giraffes kept trying to lick her hair.
The miniature train is pretty short as it goes around the pond and Lemur Island twice. Connor loves trains so we always ride one wherever we happen to be visiting, this was no exception.
Overall the kids loved it and we were satisfied with getting our money’s worth.

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