My Tribute to Montgomery

I was sad to learn that Montgomery the Hippo died last week. Here is some video I took of him over the past few years.



Montgomery was born at the Memphis Zoo in 1972 but had been at Riverbanks since 1974. Most of the time when I saw him he was under the water. So it was always a nice surprise when he was out of the water.

Looking at this video you would never know hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa. They've killed more humans than any other animal in Africa. They have been known to drown lions or bite crocodiles in half. Its skin in mostly bullet proof. But Montgomery wasn't born in the wild and was taken good care of.

Check out Montgomery's teeth. Did you know George Washington's false teeth were made from hippo ivory? (And walrus ivory).

Hippos were once thought to be related to pigs. But they are more closely related to whales.

It won't be the same without Monty. I hope Riverbanks will get some new hippos soon.

Meerkats and gorillas and grizzly bears, oh my!

Have you ever heard of the Riverbanks Zoo? I've mentioned it in some of my postings.

When I first visited five years ago, I thought it was a really good zoo. There have been lots of changes since then. The polar bear is gone, and that's probably good since it's so hot in South Carolina, and he's at a colder place now. And the rhino is gone too. But Riverbanks keeps getting better, with the grizzly bears, the koala, the gorillas, the elephants and the bird house.

I once had a private tour of the elephant house from zoo director Palmer Satch Krantz II, and met Tumpy the Elephant. And I also met a diver as he dove into the fish tank.

I like the way the grizzlies walk around. The meerkats always seem hard at work. I like to see the hippo come up for air.

You can see animals at Riverbanks you might never get a chance to see. It's educational. And when people see them, I think they'll like animals more, and feel like they want to save them. Why do you like zoos?