Trip to the Zoo

I took my mother to visit the National Zoo today. I have visited the few a handful of times before, but this time I spent quite a bit of time in the Small Mammal House. Here are a few of the animals we saw:

White-Faced Saki

The white-faced saki, also known as the Guianan saki and the golden-faced saki, is a species of saki monkey, a type of New World monkey, found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. This species lives in the understory and lower canopy of the forest, feeding mostly on fruits, but also eating nuts, seeds, and insects.

Golden Lion Tamarin

The golden lion tamarin is diurnal and primarily arboreal, forming small groups of patrols with a consistent territory of around 400,000 square metres (100 acres). Fighting between groups is avoided by scent marking and ritual encounters. By night, the tamarins sleep in abandoned nesting holes in trees, or in large bromeliads.



Pale-faced saki (left), golden lion tamarin (right). Photos by Kevin Borland. Portions of text derived from Wikipedia.

Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin

Unfortunately, I missed the peak bloom of the cherry blossoms at the tidal basin this year, as well as the festival events over the weekend due to other plans, but I headed out around sunrise this morning to see what was left of them anyway. Most of the petals were already scattered about the ground and floating in the Potomac, but there were still a handful of trees that were still in full bloom.

Despite the wind, it was nice to get out for some early morning fresh air and exercise. The advantage of going early in the morning on a weekday is that there's not so much of a crowd of tourists blocking the view and making a lot of noise. Also, there's plenty of parking that time of day right along the basin.