Note: this is not a post about a basketball movie.

Friday was my birthday (Woooooh! I'm officially old now.) and to celebrate I did what any normal person would do…. I went to the Vilas Zoo in Madison, WI to see Chang Tan the Red Panda! I've posted about Chang Tan before… he's about as awesome as an animal can get.

I took this video of him climbing around in his home. Unfortunately it artifacts quite badly in a few spots.

I promised pictures from the zoo trip.. and I think it's about time to deliver. The pictures are all gonna be teeny-tiny thumbnails, which can be clicked on for the much bigger (not necessarily better) version.

If you recall, the main point of the trip was to see Chang Tan the red panda.. who decided to sleep his way through our visit. This is the best picture that I got of him:

Unfortunately, I didn't get a usable picture of the otter. But, there are some lions, bears, cotton-topped tamarins, snakes, crocs, and even a t-rex. I'll only post a few, the rest can be explored through my flickr page.

My Saturday visit with Chang Tan was less exciting than I had hoped for. Far less exciting. It turns out that the little red panda guy was much more keen on sleeping on top of a box near the ceiling.. which looked like it was right under an air vent. The amazing "super-glare glass" made pictures almost impossible. The best picture I took, you can see the lump of him, and maybe make out an ear. He was still cute.

I did get some pretty good video of the cotton-top tamarins though. They look like little gremlins. It's great. Hopefully I'll have them up on youtube by the end of the week.. but since I still don't have internet access at home.. no promises. There are also some good pictures of the lions, and polar bears, and a lizard of some sort that was only labeled as "The Rain Forest."

The highlight of the trip to the zoo was.. wait for it.. the river otter. He was the only animal that seemed excited to see us. Watching him flip off of the glass, follow our hands along the tank, and bail on the other zoo visitors to follow us to the other side of the tank. I don't know his name, but he was a lot more fun than a sleepy red panda.

But yeah.. videos and pictures eventually. 🙂

Lunch was not kind to me today so I took the rest of the day off.
I'm writing this on my phone.. lying in bed.. feeling like I'm about to die.

I'm not good at being sick, so I'll probably be completely fine tomorrow.. but right now – BLAH!

Still planning on going to see Chang Tan (the red panda) on Saturday, so this better not last long.

Anyone that kinda knows anything about me knows that I love red pandas. Love. <3.. they're just so friggin cute.

Turns out there's one at my favorite zoo, and he's the cutest red panda i've ever seen. I might go see the little Chang Tan this Saturday, weather permitting.

More pictures

Wisconsin State Journal article