Jungle Island

WOW, I am so excited to post these pictures. While down in South Florida visiting my family during spring break my mom booked a VIP tour for me to Jungle Island. We started the tour at 10:00 am with our tour guide Ryan. I told him about my love for all animals but especially for exotics, and how i wanted to become a zoo vet someday. The tour was suppose to be a 90 minute behind the scenes type of deal. We must of really rubbed off well on Ryan because a 90 minute tour ended up being a 5 hour tour..LOL It was once of the best days of my life Thank you Ryan!

We started off with the bird show, you think oh its just another bird show right? Well think again it was one of the most intense lifetime experiences I got up close to a Cassowary. Cassowaries are extremely aggressive and dangerous birds. The Guinness Book of World Records lists them as the world’s most dangerous bird, as they have been known to viciously attack humans who intrude upon their territory. Their middle toes have a long sharp claw with which they can attack and instantly disembowel an enemy in seconds. Their also known for their close relation to the prehistoric Velociraptor. Jungle Island is the proud home of Mama Cass, the only known Cassowary to be trained and in a show anywhere in the world.

My next close encounter was with the African penguins. I was taught how to feed them they are very spoiled penguins. Forrest was the sweetest she kept coming up to me to give her a snack. It was a bit tricky getting the fish just in the right spot for them.

You will see a picture of some macaws sitting on branches we were in their enclosure. No one is allowed in there except for the zoo keepers but Ryan pulled a few strings and got me in. Along with the macaws were some squirrel monkeys they were all running up to me wanting me to feed them some sunflower seeds. They were so adorable. It was so cool being around wild birds & monkeys.

Next we were off to the Lemurs I got to play with Honey, Goldie & Bear they were jumping from me to the cage and back. Their coats were so soft and fluffy their tails were long and bushy. They loved the grapes i had in my pockets they kept trying to pick them. Bear started a LOUD call when he got excited and got the other two started it sounded as if I was in the wild..LOL they were so lovable.

Our next stop was the reptiles. I got to meet Hank the 20 foot long, 2000 lb Crocosaurus, Lucy a 300 year old tortoise, a bearded dragon, a true albino alligator, some pythons and lizards oh did I mention Tarantulas. We did not spend too much time on that side of the jungle...LOL I'm more of a fur lover.

The red kangaroos were awesome. They are the largest marsupial around hopping all over the place. They loved drinking from their bottles they still get drink formula. They would hop into the sacks along the fence when they wanted to feel like they were in their mama's pouch.

Then we went to T.I.G.E.R. it stands for: The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species it is a wildlife education organization. The tiger show was very informative not only did I learn all the different types of tigers there are I also learned how endangered they are. I saw Bengal Tigers, Siberian tigers, Golden Tabby tigers, lions, and even a liger that weighed over 900 lbs and stood 12 ft tall. His name is Goliath he was so breathtaking. At the end of the presentation I took a picture feeding a baby Bengal tiger named Mitra while Shivu the gibbon sat on my shoulder.

I got to go behind, behind really behind the scene with peanut & pumpkin the twin orangutans they were so adorable. I got to touch them and feed them snacks while I talked to their surrogate mom.

I could keep going on and on about all the things I did at Jungle Island it truly was a great experience but I'll stop & just let you see all the great pictures I got. Thanks Mom I love that your always thinking about me this was the best homecoming present ever.