A visit to the zoo.
The Zoo in our city is very big, nice and well-kept. It opens at 9.a.m. and closes at 6.p.m. There are about seven thousand animals in the Zoo. Near the main entrance there is a ticket office. If you want to learn the prices of the tickets before your visit or need some other information about the animals you can call a special zooline. When you have your ticket you can passthrough the main entrance. Unfortunately you cannot bring your dog inside so if your pet is with you, you have to leave it in a special cage.
The visit starts on the left side where you can see many beautiful flamingos spending nice time in their pool. Then there are many more birds from all over the world. Some of them are really exotic like toco tucans or hummingbirds. There are some huge cages with birds of prey. They are really impressing. When there is a feeding time you can watch them hunt for the little pieces of meat thrown by their keeper. Next to the birds there is an Elephant House. There are five elephants in there: three females, one male and a baby. There is always a crowd of people next to the Elephant House because the elephants are very friendly and one female can even do some tricks.
Behind the elephants there is a hippo pool. The hippos are not as friendly as the elephants. In fact they are quite shy and they hide in the water very quickly when they see an approaching person. The hippos look very fat and calm but at large they can be very aggressive and dangerous animals.
On the right from the hippos you can see the Wild Cats department. The most impressive are the Lion Terraces where eight lions can run and play in conditions very similar to those in their natural habitat. Next to the cats there are other predators like wolves or bears. This department is really scary. When you follow the arrows on your right you can get to the Apes and Monkeys part. It is also a very popular place because the monkeys can be really funny. The visitors’ favourite is a chimpanzee named Sara. She is very intelligent and she always wants some food. There is also one old orang-outang. This ape is very rare and difficult to keep in the zoo. There are plenty of little monkeys in the Monkey House. Some of them need rather high temperature and they have to be kept inside all the time.
Next to the monkeys there are giraffes and other grass-eaters. They all come from African savannahs. Behind the giraffes there are sea-lions. The sea-lions live in a very big pool with incredibly blue water. These animals are very intelligent, too. They try to communicate with everybody who comes close to their pool. In summer at eleven and at four o’clock there are special shows with the sea-lions. They can do many tricks and they are very fit. The shows are especially popular with children.
There are hundreds of other animals and it is not possible to describe all of them. But there are not only animal cages in the Zoo. There is also the Lifewatch Centre. Where you can watch ten minutes’ video about the zoo history and its famous inhabitants. You can find there some more amazing facts about the animals through pictures, posters and information boards. When you are hungry during your visit you can eat a delicious lunch in one of the two restaurants or you can have an ice-cream in the Zoo café. Near the exit there is a gift shop where you can buy postcards, posters, toy animals and other souvenirs. There are toilets opposite the Gift Shop.
I like our Zoo very much and I visit it quite often because I am keen on biology and I find it very interesting to watch animals in their everyday life.
