Summer Vacation Redux #8: Omaha: Henry Doorly Zoo, part 2 of 11

My second adventure at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska during my cross-country Total Eclipse of the Sun road trip was the Lied Jungle.  It was first opened in 1992 and remains the largest interior rainforest in the United States.  In a world the place is incredible.  It is large and full of life.  And while most of the animals are kept away from the human visitors, very few are enclosed in anything like traditional cages.  They are kept apart with natural barriers and surrounded by natural vegetation and water features.  And everywhere you turn to look, you'll discover something worth seeing.

Here are just a few of the animals and vista I saw.

I entered on the canopy level with causeways that wind all around the jungle and eventually leads you to the ground level where you can explore it all over again from a lower perspective.

 This is a pair of White-crested Laughing Thrush, Garrulax leucolophus.  A gregarious little bird native to Asia from Nepal's foothills of the Himalayan Mountains to the jungles of Cambodia and Vietnam.

 The first of 10 or so (I honestly lost count and didn't get pics of all of them) species of lesser apes and monkeys that you will discover were a family of White-handed Gibbons, Hylobates lar.  I hung around long enough to get some pictures of infant gibbon, too.  He was so active that it was difficult to capture an un-blurred photo.

 There are multiple waterfalls and even a meandering jungle river with a couple of lesser tributaries to delight and explore.

At one point I looked around a corner on one of the rock faces to discover a colony of Egyptian Fruit Bats, Rousettus aegyptiacus, clinging to the "rock" face. 

And nearby a group of Indian Flying Fox, Pteropus giganteus were roosting in the trees.

 Next up a little group of François' Langur, Trachypithecus francoisi.

 And rummaging around beneath there intricate arboeal gym was a beautiful Malayan Tapir, Acrocodia indica--just one of two difference species of Tapir that call the Lied Jungle home.
Next up a little group of François' Langur, Trachypithecus francoisi.

 A pair of truly beautiful De Brazza's Monkeys, Cercophithecus neglectus hanging out in their "tree".  They are just gorgeous creature with there "Dr. Suess" faces, you expect them to speak and sound something like Sebastian Cabot.

 Look down and you'll discover a Pygmy Hippopotamus, Choeropsis liberiensis.

Look up and it's a group of Brown-faced Spider Monkeys, Ateles fuciceps robustus.

 On the other side of the trail you encounter three more species of monkey.  One being this pair of Red-backed Bearded Saki Monkeys, Chiropotes chiropotes, with one fellow happily grooming his friend.

 Nearby a tree full of sleeping Black Howler Monkeys, Alouatta caraya, and playful Common Squirrel Monkeys, Saimiri sciureus sciureus.  The frenetic movement of the Squirrel Monkeys make it impossible to get a good photo.  But the languorous Black Howlers more than made up for it with these wonderful images--and yes, only some Black Howler Monkeys are actually black.

 Practically on top the monkeys were a couple of Macaws.  This colorful Scarlet Macaw, Ara macao was spending the morning pruning.

 Here is a Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, Ara ararauna.   They all have those distinctive zebra striped faces.

 In one of several cave-like passages you encounter some more of the zoo's amphibians and reptiles like this little Green and Black Poison Dart Frog, Dendrobates auratus.

 Not far away is this Green Crested Basilisk, Basiliscus plumifrons.  My friend commented that he thought Basilisks were just a creation of J. K. Rowlings...silly friend.

 In a pool in one of the streams, you can find a collection of various freshwater Stingrays from the Amazon River.  They are all beautifully marks and belong to three species: Potamotrygon castexi, Potamotrygon leopoldi, and Potamotrygon motoro.

 The second Tapir, a Baird's Tapir, Tapirus bairdii, is spotted resting in a cool spot on the riverbank.  Unlike it's Asian cousin, the Baird's tapir lives in Central America.  In fact, of the four subspecies of Tapir, three are native to Central and South America.

 We'll end our visit with another group of spider monkeys, the closely related Black-headed Spider Monkey, Ateles fusciceps.

 Sometimes it's difficult to know who enjoys watching who more...