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'Brew At The Zoo' Beer Festivals for May Take on Miami, California and Memphis

The weather is getting warmer, and May has officially arrived on the calendar. That means it’s time to head outdoors and reconnect with nature—or at least just visit the critters over at the neighborhood zoo. Sure we love to see the animals do their thing, but it’s even better with a beverage in one hand. Here’s three brew at the zoo events taking place this May.

Brew at the Zoo – Zoo Miami

It’s already time for Zoo Miami to do their brew at the zoo thing, as the animals and exhibits are waiting for you to swing by on Saturday, May 4 between 7 and 11pm. Despite its location at the zoo, it sounds like this event is one of the biggest beer festivals in the city. Plenty of brewers and breweries will be in attendance, and they’re promising more than 100 different lagers and ales to sip and sample. Unlimited samples are yours to enjoy for just $35—in advance—or $40 at the door. The fun rounds itself out with plenty of live music including an appearance by Naughty by Nature—remember them?

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Panda Travel / Edinburgh Travel / Animals / Scotland Travel / Zoos / Zoo Travel / Nature Travel / → All Tags

Why All Eyes are on Edinburgh Zoo's Frisky Panda Pals

Yang Guang limbers up

Maybe Edinburgh is that kinda town, because it wasn’t just Richard Branson getting frisky in Scotland last week; bumping Little Red’s arrival down the news agenda were the two pandas at Edinburgh Zoo, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, whose slow and steady journey to mating season has been vicariously lapped up by the British press.

Not because they’re creeps, see; but because a panda pregnancy will be a feat against all the odds—the female is in season for just 48 hours. Also, the couple have only known each other for just over a year, so although it’s not quite celebrity speed, it’s pretty quick. Last year, they tried to breed unsuccessfully. This year, we were told when we visited last week, Tian Tian has been calling to Yang Guang with “much more urgency,” making the scientists think they might just hit the jackpot.

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Animals / Australia Travel / Queensland Travel / Zoo Travel / Steve Irwin / → All Tags

Head to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo to Pet a Kangaroo and Kiss a Koala

February marks the birthday month for Australia's most famous conservationist, Steve Irwin. There might be no better way to celebrate the life of the zoo-keeper than to head off to his very own zoo, aptly named, Australia Zoo.

Located about 60 minutes north of Brisbane, the 100-acre park was originally started by Steve's parents as solely a croc and reptile park. In 1992, Steve took ownership of the zoo and he escalated it to become one of the best zoos in the country, featuring a unique 'Crocoseum' for putting on demonstrations for visitors with live crocodile hand-feedings and a full animal show.

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Zoos / Zoo Travel / Fall Travel / Green Travel / Nature Travel / Washington DC Travel / Twitter / Animals / → All Tags

The National Zoo's Live-Tweeting Just Gets Cuter and Cuter

Elementary logic: all organizations are increasingly leveraging social media, zoos are organizations, therefore zoos are increasingly leveraging social media. What differentiates zoos from other groups, of course, is that their tweets, posts, photos, and videos are much, much cuter.

Our beloved San Diego Zoo probably sets the standard for social media completionism—their annual Panda Week activities are to the point—but the National Zoo in Washington, DC is not far behind. Last year they live-tweeted the artificial insemination of a giant panda and the subsequent birth of the panda baby. Both of those were neat but not particularly cute.

The zoo's most recent live-tweeted event did much better on the cuteness front: photos and descriptions of elephant baths.

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Get Up Close with Ringtails, Bush Babies, and More at the Duke Lemur Center

If you love lemurs and want to see them in their native habitat, you’re going to have to get to the island of Madagascar, where the animals are natives. But if you can’t quite make it to Africa (or Sir Richard Branson's island sanctuary for them), there’s a pretty good plan B: the Duke Lemur Center, at Duke University in Durham, NC, not far from the Raleigh/Durham airport.

The center at Duke is home to the world’s largest sanctuary for prosimian animals, which includes lemurs, bush babies, aye-ayes, and other adorable creatures.

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Christmas Travel / Holiday Travel / Zoo Travel / Animals / → All Tags

Three Zoos Going All Out with Holiday Light Displays

Even if you’ve still got plenty of shopping to do, we say it’s fine to take a little holiday break to enjoy the season. Load up on the hot chocolate or one of those peppermint mochas, and head out to the zoo. It might not seem that seasonal, but when they flip the switch on the lights it’s becomes a winter wonderland. Here’s a few zoos doing the Christmas lights thing this holiday season:

Christmas at the Zoo – Indianapolis Zoo, Indiana

At the Indianapolis Zoo the fun has been going on since around Thanksgiving, and the lights are turned on nightly—between 5pm and 9pm—through December 30. This zoo was the very first in the country to do something like this, so at this point they’ve got it pretty darn figured out. They’re bringing out the animals that enjoy the cooler nights like the sea lions, tigers, brown bears, and off course the polar bears. Lights are pretty much everywhere you look, and there are even a few holiday themed dolphin shows. Carolers round out the holiday zoo experience, and it’s all included in your admission. Offseason tickets start at $10 per adult, but you can save a buck by donating a new hat, scarf, or pair of gloves when you visit.

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Zoo Travel / Museum Travel / Singapore Travel / Tourism / Water Parks / → All Tags

The World's Largest Aquarium Now Calls Singapore Home

Move over Georgia Aquarium, as it looks like there’s a new vat of water in town and this one now holds the title of world’s largest.

The S.E.A. Aquarium opened its doors and tanks for the first time last week, making Singapore is now home to the world’s largest aquarium. Obviously they have plenty of fish and friends, and they’re all doing their thing in almost 11.2 million gallons of water. The new place is home to around 800 different species of ocean critters, and in total there’s like 100,000 animals swimming and splashing about.

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San Diego Travel / San Diego Zoo / Zoo Travel / Nature Travel / Green Travel / → All Tags

While the East Coast Preps for Hurricane Sandy...

Yes, we'll shortly be going to our beloved San Diego Zoo. They have a new baby panda, new baby jaguars, and new monkeys, otters, and pigs. The video of the baby panda learning to walk is embedded below, hi-res photos of the new baby jaguars are here, and the San Diego Zoo blog has your post describing the rest of the babies.

In the meantime, this is what a fall morning looks like in San Diego from our hotel room. If you look at the road you'll see the Old Town Trolley. Their site brags that San Diego is "known as 'America's Finest City,'" which sounded very suspicious to us until we saw the weather and noticed the San Diego Zoo pictures they have pasted to the back of their trolley. Persuasive!

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One More Reason to Visit DC's National Zoo: A New Baby Panda!

BAM! Last night at 10:46pm the National Zoo in Washington, DC welcomed a new baby panda into the world. We noticed that something was amiss outside Jaunted's zoo-adjacent DC headquarters this morning—news vans were gathering to take pictures and video, because Anchorman is far closer to reality than anyone in broadcast journalism wants to admit—and so we investigated.

The result of the investigation was the picture at the top of this post, with the reporters doing interviews with cherubic crotch-dumplings and their mothers, and the news about the baby panda. YouTube video of the birth is embedded below and the relevant Twitter hashtag for updates is #cubwatch. Zoo travel social media completionism, is what that is.

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Four Zoos for Visiting Baby Leopards This Fall

Yeah listen. We could pretend that we do these fairly routine zoo travel baby animal posts - lemurs and monkeys and otters oh my! - because you guys are going to visit those locations. But that would be dishonest of us and unworthy of you.

So let's all enter the circle of trust. Behind each of the links in this post are a ton of baby leopards pictures, and at the bottom are a few videos. Happy Friday.

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Three More 'Brew at the Zoo' Events to End the Summer Sippin' Season

If you wanted to get drunk with a skunk this summer there’s still time to do it. Animal parks across the country have started to add booze to their usual offerings, and now it’s time to take it all in. There’s at least a few warm weekends left this summer so now’s the time to cool off with a refreshing adult beverage while watching the lions, tigers, and bears do their thing. Here’s our picks for three “zoo brew” events that might just be worth your time:

Franklin Park Zoo – Boston, Massachusetts

It’s almost time for the third annual Brew at the Zoo event at Franklin Park Zoo, so now’s the time to start planning a little trip to Boston. The critter cocktail party is set to do its thing on August 18—that’s this weekend—between 5 and 9pm. Of course you’ll be able to check out what the lemurs are up to and gawk at the giant anteater, but this zoo also has some prehistoric friends as well. Festival attendees are welcome to stroll around Zoorassic Park which features around 15 animatronic dinosaurs, so be sure not to spill your drink—they’re probably expensive to replace.

Tickets are $50 per person, and that includes all the samples that you can comfortably—or uncomfortably—handle. There’s live music and plenty of food to purchase, so they’ve got your entertainment covered from all angles. Peak Organic Brewing Company, Blue Hills Brewery, and Long Trail Brewing Co., are just a few of the breweries scheduled to be in attendance. Of course there will be an appearance from none other than Samuel Adams as well—the brewery, not the historical figure.

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Where to Have Olympic-Themed Fun at Zoos This Weekend

You've taken our advice and nutritionally prepared yourself for the London 2012 Olympics. You've done your background reading on the special-edition Olympics airplanes from various airlines. You're caught up on the "please don't flee the country" ad campaign that British Airways has been running.

You even know that there's free wifi in Underground stations for the duration of the Games. You are, in other words, all caught up on Olympics-related travel news. Nothing left.

How about some pictures and videos of the various "Animal Olympics" being held at zoos around the world this weekend and through the rest of summer? Happy Friday.

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