Today my Mum and I walked to the Metro Centre to catch a train on the Red Line to the National Zoological Park.The escalator from the Metro Station near the zoo was really steep. It is the biggest and steepest escalator I have ever been on! This station is the second deepest station in Washington and is about 48 metres below the ground. My mum did not take a photo, she was too scared to let go of the rails, but I found a picture online that shows how steep it is.
The National Zoological Park has 2000 animals with 400 different species. This was another big day of walking as the zoo is quite large. My favourite animals at the zoo were the:
- Giant pandas;
- Meerkats;
- Cheetah;
- Golden Lion Tamarin;
- Gorillas; and
- Orangutans.
Some animals I have never seen before, and I thought were a little bit strange, were the:
Naked mole rat – a rodent, but it looks like a baby rat with no fur on its body;- Alligator Snapping Turtle; and
- Prairie Dog – a rodent but it barks like a dog, they usually live in North America.
Seeing the Giant Pandas was awesome and the most favourite part of my visit to the zoo. Giant Pandas are an endangered species and come from China. The two Giant Panda’s at the zoo were named Mei-Xiang and Tian Tian. They also had a baby called Tai Shan who was sent to China to be part of a breeding program. I liked the Giant Pandas because they were very cute and playful. You can also see the Giant Pandas through the zoo’s video cam.
The weirdest looking animal was the Alligator Snapping Turtle. It was weird because it had a turtle’s body but it also had a tail and head like an alligator. It also had teeth.
