May 28 -- Toledo zoo

... or, (almost) all bears, all the time.

Spotted on the highway on our way to Toledo. The "whining" on the left had "no" in front of it.





It was lunchtime when we arrived. We got sandwiches in the gift shop (which you encounter before the entrance to the zoo), and ate them on this too-sunny patio. They weren't bad, and were huge for the price. Probably a better value than food available elsewhere in the zoo.....

Hosta, with chair to show size.





I have no idea what this round-leafed stuff is, but ... damn. The hosta to the left is, I suspect, the same variety as in the pic above, so you can tell how big it is. then look at those round leaves. !!! More than two feet across. One doesn't see plants outside of conservatories with leaves that big around here..... !!!





One of the zoo's polar bear moms had a baby boy last winter.

UPDATE -- I just read that he is the only polar bear cub in a US zoo at present.

He thought it was lunchtime, too.









She kept reaching waaaaay up and sniffing. Wonder what she knew that we didn't, as a result of what she learned from her nose.....







After lunch, it was nap time.





At least for junior, it was. Mama walked back and forth and back and forth and back and forth...... She kept checking all the various doors into the area. My suspicion was that she felt it ought to be *her* lunchtime, too, and was checking to see if those lazy monkeys had gotten around to providing her with the sustenance she needs to be able to keep that growing boy going.

(Insert usual sad note that taking pics in zoos is frustrating -- barriers are ... in the way! Here, plexiglas....... O for enough room to have moats everywhere, and fewer fences, nets, and plexi.)









He slept in bursts. This time he woke up, didn't see Mom, and hustled off around the corner to reassure himself she was still near.





Yep. Ok, then, back to sleep.





Check out the size of those feet. Those claws.......































That seemed to have been enough bits of nap for a while. He is looking down into part of their swimming pool. He spent some time diddling -- reaching down, doing I'm not sure what, as his back was to us. (Many pics of baby bear bum, with various scratches and splashes on the intervening plexi.....)

He looked to me like he had been wet. I didn't know how big polar bears are before they begin to swim........





Then he decided it was time to move.





And into the water he went. He is a very competent swimmer, diving and coming up to try to conquer this plastic barrel.





Here's 10 seconds of him, swimming.....



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