Visiting Walruses
/A pair of walruses recently arrived at Point Defiance Zoo and Mom asked if we could go see them while she was here. Jeff and I were also interested in checking it out since we had never visited this zoo. We went on a Monday morning in hopes that it wouldn’t be too crowded and had a lovely time.
The walruses had been at the zoo less than a week when we came to visit, but they appeared to be acclimating well. Their names are Balzak (male) and Lakina (female) - six year old half-siblings that came from Aquarium du Québec. It was fun to watch these two chilling in their new space, but the best part was getting to see them interacting with their care team. The care team works with them to practice various skills (such as allowing a team member to look at their teeth) and rewards them with food. They each have big personalities. We quickly learned that Lakina isn’t a fan of shrimp as she spit some back out at the team member who was working with her. It was pretty funny.
We also saw other zoo residents:
One of the neatest trees I’ve seen - a monkey puzzle tree
The meerkats were playing and chasing each other around
A black and white ruffed lemur
A siamang gibbon hanging around (her name is Dudlee)
A Sumatran tiger observing her area (I think her name is Kali)
The Magellanic penguins were enjoying a swim
The sea otters enjoyed feeding time
Sven the Arctic fox checking out his habitat
A muskox having a nap and chewing her cud (I think her name is Charlotte)
An unexpected mountain sighting!
