So Many Monkeys

We took a trip to the Singapore Zoo, which is actually a collection of 4 different zoo-like parks.  It turned out that the annual pass for all 4 parks actually cost less than the pass for just the main zoo plus one visit to one other park, so these are actually pictures from both the zoo and the "River Safari", which despite being predominantly focused on riverway ecosystems, is where they keep their Giant Pandas.

We split up, and Eldest and I went to see the reptiles.

Komodo Dragons are pretty big.  Their smaller cousins the Malayan Water Monitors are all over the island, and we've seem them in the undergrowth in parks on a couple of occasions.

Posing on another statue, with actual giant tortoises in the background.  The zoo had a lot of "premium" experiences available, where if you show up at the right time you can pay a few dollars and interact with the animals.  We didn't stick around to see what the Tortoise Experience was, but I suspect it was feeding them and not actually riding around on the back of their shell.

So yeah, monkeys everywhere.  The Orangutans basically had the run of the place, with nets and ropes suspended in the trees above the paths.

Same with the Lemurs.  So many primates.

At the River Safari.  Learning about home!

At the top of the picture, typical American clothing: denim overalls and gingham.

This was Danger Monkey's favorite fish.  She made sure we saw them, and had to wave goodbye to all of them before we were allowed to leave.

Middle Child petting a horseshoe crab.  The zoo attendant was very polite and answered kind of a lot of questions.  Proud of the boy for summoning the courage not only to touch unfamiliar creatures in the water, but also interact with an unfamiliar human.

Did I mention that there were monkeys everywhere?  This was nominally an aquatic exhibit.

Had to get a picture of Eldest re-creating a photo of her at 1 year old at the New England Aquarium.

Monkey-see, monkey-something-something.

Finally made it to the boat ride portion of the river safari.  Spent 20 minutes waiting for our turn, then 20 minutes waiting for the rain to stop, then 10 minutes actually on the tour...

...on which these were the only animals that we saw.  Probably not worth doing again, though this was a pretty cool shot.  These birds aren't technically part of the zoo, they're just a native Singaporean bird colony that settled down here.

The Great Kapok Tree rises above the rest of the jungle!

After the river cruise the big kids watched an animal demo.  They brought out hawks, parrots, turtles, snakes and lizards, all of which got super close to the spectators.  The handlers had to keep yelling at people to stay seated (otherwise the hawks would hit them) and not try to run (there was really nowhere for the kids in the front row to go without trampling other children).  A couple of adults freaked out.  It was great.  The finale was a pair of huge (mostly) tame pelicans.

Super necessary photo op in giant fiberglass eggs.

It turned out that the Pandas were in some sort of possibly-but-probably-not-pregnant hormonal coma, so the most we could see of them was a tuft of white and black fur on a grainy CC-TV monitor.  Luckily we got the annual pass so we can return to try our luck!