Elephants, Rhinos and Bears - oh my

OK, so we saw Lions and Tigers too, and I could've used the line properly, but the elephants and rhinos were the highlights, so they had to go in the title.

Today we went to Whipsnade, which is an open plains zoo just north of London. The main reason for going was that they have very successful breeding programmes that mean they have, among others, a baby elephant and a baby rhino. And I mean little babies, as in less than 4 months old. Anyone who knows me knows I would not pass up an opportunity to see a baby elephant up close. It wasn't until part way through the day we discovered how close we would get to see the elephants - they take them on a walk around the park and literally pass within metres of people watching.

This is the second youngest calf they have there - I think I heard/read 2 1/2 years old. Cute, huh?

I have photos of the baby too, obviously, but I have just got home and this is probably the best elephant shot I got, so its the one I've uploaded for now. I will go through properly and upload more soon.

Other than the elephants, the highlights included seeing rhinos very close up, including the baby who was covered in mud and had straw stuck to him; touching a lemur, which apparently we weren't meant to do, but it was sitting right there and didn't seem to care when some kid "patted" it, so we did too; the fact that they had animals that were just roaming free on the grounds, including wallabies :); watching them feed the big fluffy bears that looked very cuddly; and the beautiful warm weather that meant i was in jeans and a t-shirt (ie, no jacket) for most of the day.