San Francisco Zoo

This past week we made our second trip to the San Francisco Zoo. I do enjoy this zoo a bit more than Oakland because it has a wider variety of animals, and because of the old school exhibits they are a lot easier to see. Of course it does make it a bit depressing, a bit too much concrete for my taste. And the weather, of course, is always far better in Oakland.

I spent the majority of my time with the big cats, drawing lions and tigers (and bears, oh my!) The lions made pretty good models, and two in particular... a father daughter team, were crashed out in plain sight. The big male was incredible, not only huge, but probably the most relaxed lion I've ever seen. A big cat grin on his face, hoping for someone to rub his belly...






The tigers were a bit more active, and seemed a little agitated. Word at the zoo is the tigers have never been the same since the Tatiana incident. Her presence is still strong in the air, with folks wondering which containment she was at. A tragic loss.



I DID actually spend some time with the bears as well... the Grizzley Bears were having a blast. I learned that these two were abandoned siblings, who were transfered to the zoo for breaking and entering! They would break into people's houses to steal food in order to survive. Pretty clever, though not a sight that I would want to see when coming home from work!



I also spent some time with the Polar Bears, too... though they didn't seem nearly as jovial as the grizzlies.




I ended the day with the Rhinoceros. I wasn't able to spend too long with him, partially because he was a bit hard to see, but mostly because the wind had picked up so much that my fingers were starting to freeze. Ah... San Francisco!