Visit to the Metro Toronto Zoo

Polar Bear Cub (four months old)

I visited the Zoo recently. Being the penny pincher I am, I had bought a couple of coupons from Groupon last fall for $10 each. The normal adult admission fee is $23.

Of course the catch was you had to use the coupon between late fall and late winter (when the weather is frigid and it gets dark early). The pitfalls to that are since it's freezing outside you're freezing inside and the zoo closes early.

A good deal of animals were understandably "off display". Since they didn't want to turn them all into popsicles they were kept hidden away inside. It made walking through the majority of the zoo like a walk in the park (and not in a good way). All you saw were vast empty spaces filled with the odd Canada goose hanging about here and there.

And since it gets dark earlier at this time of year, the zoo officially closes at 4:30 p.m. So you don't have much time to see the very little that is on display.

I have to say it still was alright. There were quite a few indoor pavilions (African Rainforest, Indo-Malaya and Australasia) to see. There was a Clouded Leopard and Sumatran Orangutans in the Indo-Malaya pavilions, Western Lowland Gorillas and Ring-tailed Lemurs in the African pavilion and Bennett's Wallabies, a Komodo Dragon and a variety of tropical fish in the Australasian pavilion.

As well I saw a lone tiger outside in the African Savannah section. He was in a small cage though. There also were two Lions, a couple of Hyenas and one lonely Cheetah on display outside too.

One of the highlights for me was seeing the Polar Bear cub in the Americas section. It was really cute. It actually was moving around and playing a little, unlike his parents who were napping in another section.

Still, next time, I might consider paying full price and fighting the masses when the weather is actually pleasant outside. At least then I'd get to see most of the animals that were hidden away this time.