King Penguins at Riverbanks

This week our Riverbanks Kids' Commission got to meet some King Penguins. I got to pet one named SCOUT. Penguins mate for life. Scout followed his mate around. They were very playful and very fun...and VERY LOUD!

Riverbanks Zoo Kids' Commission

This year I was selected to be on the first ever Riverbanks Zoo Kids' Commission. This is a group of 9 kids who help make decisions for the zoo. The commission elected me to be the chairman, which is a real honor. In December we were invited to the opening night of The Lights Before Christmas and were introduced to the board members and sponsors. Here I am with Satch Krantz (the zoo's CEO),some of the other Kids' Commission members, and checking out the light with my sister.

Lions

Here are some playful lions at Riverbanks Zoo.

Meerkat Manor

Here are some funny Meerkats at Riverbanks Zoo.

WNC Nature Center

We recently visited the Western North Carolina Nature Center, in Asheville, NC. We saw lots of indigenous animals.

Above: Mountain Lion

Above: Deer

Above: Black Bear

Above: Grey Wolf

Above: River Otter

Mountain Gorillas

SC Aquarium

Here are photos from GatorGrant's Cub Scout Pack Sleepover at the SC Aquarium in Charleston, SC.

Baby Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Here's a zoologist at Rivebanks Zoo showing me and my Cub Scout Troop a real live baby Loggerhead.

Behind the Scenes at the Zoo's Aquarium Complex

Here are some behind-the-scenes pictures from the Aquarium at Riverbanks Zoo, taken on our Cub Scout sleep-over at the zoo.

Behind the scenes at the Reptile House at the Zoo

In December, my Cub Scout Troop go to spend the night at Riverbanks Zoo and get a tour behind the scenes. Here are some pictures from inside the reptile house.

AMUR (SIBERIAN) TIGER

These are the largest living cats and they are listed as endangered, due to destruction of their habitats and poaching. There are less than 500 left in the wild.

Koala

Here's Gator Grant at Riverbanks Zoo, talking about Koalas.

For more on Koalas, check out:

• http://www.thekoala.com/koala/
• http://www.koala.net/
• http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/CreatureFeature/Koala

Flamingos

For more on Flamingos:

• http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Flamingos/home.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamingo

Giant Panda

Many people like pandas because they look so cute and cuddly. I don't know why someone would even want to hunt a panda. Wild panda bears live in central China. A newborn panda looks like a bald hamster or a naked mole rat. It is very tiny at first. Most pandas have only 1 cub, but if they have 2 at a time, they will abandon one of them because they can only care for 1 at a time.

Diet: Pandas eat mostly bamboo-about 25 pounds a day, actually. But they will occasionally eat meat such as eggs or fish so they are classified as carnivores or meat eaters even though 99% of their diet is herbivore or plant eating. They also like honey just like other bears.

Relatives: the red panda, also from central China, is closely related to the giant panda. It is much smaller and looks more like a raccoon. For many years scientists believed that the giant panda was a part of the raccoon family. Now testing shows that they are really bears.

Where are they?: There are about 2000 giant pandas living in the wild in China and studies say that their numbers are growing. But there are 9 living here in the United States on loan from China. One baby panda born here at the San Diego Zoo in California also belongs to China. They are also at the National Zoo in Washington, DC; the Atlanta Zoo in Georgia. And two new pandas are located at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee. And you can see Red Pandas at the Nashville Zoo in Tennessee also. I went with my family a few years ago to see Lun Lun and Yang Yang in Atlanta, Georgia. The zoo is located, by the way, in Grant Park. They were really cool! Here are some photos we took. See if you can guess which one is the panda and which one is my dad. If you live near one of these zoos with pandas, it is certainly worth the trip to go see them.