Today I went to the Sao Paulo Zoo with one of my Brazilian colleagues and his 10 year old daughter.

Here is the entrance to the Zoologico de Sao Paulo. I could not get back far enough for a centered shot.

The lines were a bit long as it was the last weekend of winter vacation. There were a lot of kids at the zoo today. However, we did not have to wait too long before we were exploring the zoo.

I took hundreds of pictures today, and will probably share more in future posts.

We saw animals from A to Z at the zoo today. I am trying to remember if I have seen a Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) before at a zoo. I was pretty sure that I would see one today as it is a South American animal. It is a very distinctive animal with the long nose and the interesting coloration. The front legs almost look like a head of an animal.

The zoo has some nice habitat, especially this open meadow which had ostriches, zebras and a camel. I also like the reflections in the pond.

I was hoping that I would get a closer view of the zebras as I was already thinking of having Anteater to Zebra as my post title tonight.

I found a place where I could get a good picture of this Grevy’s Zebra (Equus Grevyi).

The Grevy’s Zebra is also known as the Imperial Zebra and is the largest of the wild horse family.

I am now thinking of one more animal to share and here is what came to mind.

The Zebra made me think of horses, so why I am thinking of the Hippo?

The binomial name (Hippopotamus amphibius) of the Hippopotamus means River Horse.

Hippos are of course not part of the horse family, but are more closely related to whales and dolphins as part of the Whippomorpha clade.

We also went on a short safari, but I will save details for a future post. I also took quite a few pictures of birds, reptiles and other mammals. These may show up in future posts when my mind wanders to a particular theme.

Now for some sleep after a long day with a lot of walking.

Steven