Belize Zoo

Those of you who use Facebook (another website) will already have seen some of these images. So this post if for everyone else.

We had a wonderful day at Belize Zoo - halfway down the Western Highway between Belmopan and Belize City. It gave us a chance to see all the wonderful creatures we are unlikely to see in the wild. Some are very shy; others only live in inaccessible places; some are just incredibly rare.

For me, the highlights were:

The jaguar. An iconic animal of central and south america


And some other big cats - red puma / mountain lion


and jaguarundi


The tapir - the national animal of Belize, but again, something we are unlikely to see in the wild.


And some birds. Especially the scarlet macaws. Stunningly beautiful birds, but hunted nearly to extinction. They think there are less than 200 of these left in Belize.



And our first Toucan. These aren't rare. One of our friends who lives just outside the city boundary of Belmopan, says she has these flying through her garden most evenings. But in the middle of town, we are yet to see them in the wild.