The Living Desert Zoo Gardens in Palm Desert CA

One of my favorite places to visit is the Living Desert Museum in Tucson AZ, so when I learned of this Zoo Garden in Palm Desert I just had to check it out.

We had hoped to check out more of Palm Springs as well, but since this was further away and took most of our time, that will have to wait for a second visit.

It's not a huge facility, but is nicely done with a mix of native desert plants and an assortment of animals from North America and Africa.

These cattle had the largest horns I'd ever seen.  The docent told us they weigh about 50 pounds and are hollow, with a honeycomb structure inside that helps to regulate the temperature of the animal.

The desert setting and the mountains in the background did provide a sensation of being in Africa.

The sky was totally blown out behind this giraffe, so I replaced it with a blue sky with clouds and then an almost full moon instead.

Unfortunately most of the animals are only visible behind fences and wire mesh, which really limits the ability for good photos.  But some were far enough away, like this mountain goat, to provide a nice shot.

And we did get to watch the giraffe feeding.  Talk about a long purple tongue!

Overall it was a nice day to spend walking through the zoo gardens and enjoying the day together.  As we were leaving I spotted this hummingbird who was enjoying the flowers at the gardens as well.

Long Live the Zoo Queen