Porland Zoo

The Portland, Oregon Zoo, is where we are are headed today on our field trip. This zoo has been around since 1887 and is the oldest zoo west of the Mississippi. A man by the name of Richard Knight was the creator of this 64 acre zoo, and made it home to about 1,029 animals from all over the world. This zoo features habitats from Africa, Antarctica, the Great Northwest, Asia, and even the Rain Forest. During our field trip we will see all of these places plus many more! Getting to experience the natural world is an important factor to the Portland Zoo so they have made a lot of different habitats with tons of animals.

Asian Elephants

The Asian Elephants Exhibit includes the Six elephants housed here, the Lilah Callen Holden Elephant Museum, and looking at the elephant's habitat. First we will learn about the six elephants themselves. Elephants are very large creatures ranging from 6,000 to 14,000 pounds and 7 to 12 feet. We can see that they are gray with a long trunk and very large feet to hold all of their weight. Tusks are something that only some males produce. They have pretty sharp teeth which are like many plates build up next to each other, and they have 4 molars. Elephants usually live about 45 years and they eat mostly hay and grain at the zoo. In an elephants native land they would live in both the jungle and a grassy field. The picture above on the left is of an elephant at the Portland Zoo playing with a log. Now that we know a little about the elephants at the zoo, we can head into the Lilah Callen Holden Elephant Exhibit, which is shown above on the right. This museum came about in 1985 and features ivory objects, models of ceremonial elephants, and information on the elephants kept at the zoo. Hinduism and Buddhism both consider the elephant to be a sacred creature so there are stories in this museum that tell about how the elephant became so sacred. Also, The museum is in the shape of a circle and the in the middle is a huge elephant skeleton. Now let's see the habitat at the Portland Zoo that the elephants live in! These six elephants are taken care of in a 50,670 square foot area. Here there is a front and back yard, both filled with trees, logs, sand pits, water holes, and grass land. There is also an indoor barn for them as well which has 6 different rooms. A large amount of area is definitely needed to house such large animals.

The Pacific Shores

The Pacific shores exhibit is broken up into Lorikeet Landing, the Penguins, and the Polar Bears. First, we will make our way over to the Lorikeet Landing where many colorful parrots live. Here we are able to not only look at the birds but we can also touch them and feed them. The birds are held in an L-shaped aviary covered in large plants, a stream, and a lot of tree branches to sit on. A picture of these birds is shown above in the middle. The Penguin exhibit is next. These Penguins are Humboldt Penguins and live in a habitat with 70 degree water and a rocky land which looks just like the one in Peru where they are from. Most Penguins live in a cold environment, but not these ones! These little 9 pound penguins love the warmth. This type of penguin is the most endangered of the penguins. Here we can see them walking around, jumping into the water for a quick swim, or eating their smelt or herring. This exhibit has been around since 1984 and has won a Significant Achievement Award. A picture of a penguin is shown above on the top. The last stop in the Pacific Shores are the Polar Bears. This exhibit opened in 1986 and includes rocks resembling the ones from the Bear's homeland, Canada, and 50,ooo gallons of water in their pool. We get to see the bears play, eat, and swim while also getting the chance to look at them underwater through a glass separating us. There are two Polar Bears in this exhibit named, Conrad (male) and Tasul (female) and they are brother and sister. Males can get up to about 1400 pounds and the female can get up to around 600 pounds. A picture is shown above on the bottom.