Baby okapi at the Wild Animal Park
In mid-November, one of the San Diego Zoo newsletters announced the October birth of Uche, the latest baby okapi at the Wild Animal Park. Today we finally had a chance to spend a morning in Escondido to go see him for ourselves. It was a chilly but clear morning- probably 60 degrees or so when we arrived at the park shortly after 9am.
We first headed up to Condor Ridge, where the desert plants were awash with blooms.
Desert plants on the hillside
Porcupines nibbling vegetables - so cute!
Prarie Dog!
Unlike my trips to Anza-Borrego State Park, I can always count on seeing bighorn sheep at the Wild Animal Park:
Sheep at Condor Ridge
California Condor
Orange flowering plant, related to Ocotillo, perhaps?
On the path to Condor Ridge, we also saw super-cute owls and magpies, and I lamented the lack of a digital SLR – without a manual focus function on my camera, I couldn’t focus past the wire cages to photograph animals well. I also considered getting a couple of owls for pets, but then decided they would probably nest in out sleeping bags on the top closet shelf, and try to hunt the cats..so probably not the best idea.
After Condor Ridge, we went to check out the elephants; I think the youngest one was born in Spring 2009, so it’s still pretty mini compared to the adults.
Elephant playing with food ball
Baby elephant headbutting the grownup
Then we saw two young tigers – they were still quite fuzzy and playful. According to the WAP website, they’re just over a year old, born on my birthday in 2008!
Tiger cub
Flamingos
We then wandered into the Heart of Africa section of the park. The cheetahs were hiding somewhere, so we didn’t get to see them, but we did get to watch the warthogs basking in the sun:
Warthogs in the sun
And we admired more flowering plants:
Orange cone flowers
And then it was time for the okapis! The mother okapi was feeding in the center of the exihibit:
Adult okapi
And, once again, baby Uche! He was hiding away in the back of the exhibit, nestled behind a tree.
Baby okapi at Wild Animal Park
Uche!
Cutest baby okapi ever?
aww, he’s so cute! looks like the animals all came out to see you!
[...] Giant Eland, San Diego Wild Animal Park, Somali Wild Ass At the Wild Animal Park last weekend to see the baby okapi, I also stopped by the Animal Care Center near the petting kraal, where some of the baby animals [...]