Zoo Street Names

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  46 Trumpeter Street
Date:  May 2020
Website:  www.torontozoo.com

  There is a neighbourhood of houses located on Sheppard Avenue East and very near to the Toronto Zoo. Some of the streets are named after zoo residents. You could visit this neighbourhood before or after your visit to the zoo and continue your animal adventures. The photo above was taken from inside the zoo and you can see the rooftops across the Rouge Valley.

  We entered the neighbourhood via Rouge River Drive. The Rouge River runs through the valley just behind these houses.

  The first animal street we encountered was Coyote Crescent. The Toronto Zoo does not have any coyotes in its collection. There are many wild coyotes that call the Rouge Valley home. We are sure that at some point a coyote has trotted down Coyote Crescent.

The zoo does have a fake coyote located behind the Australasia Pavilion. This one is there to possibly keep wild coyotes from getting too close to the kangaroo enclosure.

  Another wild resident of the Rouge Valley is the red fox. The Toronto Zoo briefly had one on exhibit. They had printed up signs and hoped everyone would come to see their fox. We came, but by the time we got there the fox had already dug its way under all the fencing. He escaped into the valley to join his wild friends.

  Red Fox Place takes you to Mountain Lion Trail. 

  The zoo does have one of those. A mountain lion is also known as a cougar.

  Snowgoose Terrace cuts between Mountain Lion Trail and Red Fox Place. Snow geese breed up above the timber line and during migration they head south past the Toronto Zoo.

  It is rare that a snow goose lands and spends time in Scarborough. You can always go to the Toronto Zoo and see their lesser snow geese all year long.

  Heading north, the next street was Reindeer Drive. 

  The Toronto Zoo has several caribou. In Europe they are called reindeer.

  We drove onto Jaguar Street. We didn't notice any Jaguars parked on any driveways. Come to think of it, we didn't see any Mercury Cougars or Ford Pumas on Mountain Lion Trail either.

  The Toronto Zoo used to have jaguars out by the Americas waterfall and may get some again in the future.

  We continue our journey. There are fifteen animal streets in total so we have a ways to go. The next street  is Muskox Drive.

  The zoo does not have musk ox, but it does have yaks which are kind of similar. Whoever named some of these streets should have done better research.

  The next street is Wolverine Way. Sorry, but no wolverines in Scarborough wild or otherwise.

  On the opposite side of the neighbourhood is Antelope Drive.

  The zoo has had many antelope on display through the years. The antelope above is a sable antelope. The zoo also has impala, eland and wildebeest.

  Savanna Drive is not named for an animal. It is where a large number of African animals spend their lives.

  The African Savanna at the Toronto Zoo is one of the largest sections and includes giraffe, rhinos, zebra and more.

  Bald Eagle Avenue cuts right through the center of the neighbourhood.

  The zoo has several bald eagles. Our favourite is Wombly the bald eagle ambassador.

  Bald Eagle Avenue ends up becoming Panda Square.  Panda Square goes around Trumpeter Park.

  The Toronto Zoo had special panda visitors from China in both 1985 and 2013. Everyone who saw them remembers the giant pandas fondly.

  Trumpeter Street runs across the bottom of Trumpeter Park.

  Trumpter swans are quite common at the Toronto Zoo, especially in the pond at the bottom of the Canadian Domain.

  The two animal streets that branch off from Trumpeter Street are Chipmunk Avenue and Bobcat Terrace.

  You have a good chance of seeing wild chipmunks darting across trails at the Toronto Zoo. This little guy has his cheeks full. Bobcats on the other hand will not be found at the zoo.

  The last street in our tour of the zoo name streets is Cheetah Crescent.

  This cheetah at the Toronto Zoo was enjoying the sunshine and flowers. You can enjoy visiting the actual animals at the zoo and then seeing the streets that the animals inspired.

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Map of Our World
Toronto Zoo
Zoo Street Names

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Post # 360

Lioness & Lesser Kudu

Location: London, England
Address: 8 Grosvenor Gardens
Date: September 2025

    Most of the lions found in London, England are standing around looking majestic. They can be found on coats of arms, flags, over doorways, and more. This lion statue above has been in London since 1837 and is currently standing on the South Bank beside Westminster Bridge. In artwork, it is usually the male lion depicted with its flowing mane. Today we are searching for a lioness.

 

    We had heard reports of a lioness in Grosvenor Park. The park is divided into two triangular parts.  There is an upper park and a lower park. North and south if you prefer. In the southern park we found this hut used for gardening supplies. It is covered with shells from both England and France.

 On the day we visited there were workers in the gardens and what we assume was an art display. It looked like they were growing some weird cabbage in a small fenced in garden. So far no lioness.

  Suddenly, in the upper garden we saw something headed towards us. It was a lioness chasing a kudu.

  As it was only a sculpture, it wasn't going anywhere, but the sense of motion captured in the piece was fabulous. It truly represented the struggle of life in the wild.

  While the male lions in London stand around, the females do the hunting. In the wild, lionesses do about 85 percent of the hunting to support the pride. This lioness above looks like she is taking it easy, but she just killed an impala and is watching over her three cubs while they enjoy their lunch.

  As the title of the statue suggests, the lioness is chasing a Lesser Kudu. The photo above is of a Greater Kudu in Kruger National Park. The main difference between the two types of kudu is size. With the Greater being obviously taller and heavier than the Lesser.

A kudu can jump five feet high from a standing position and up to ten feet if it gets a running start. That can be a difficult animal to catch.

  The jumping ability of the Kudu means that it could jump into the upper level of one of the buses at nearby Victoria Station. The double decker buses are only about 14 feet tall. If you are at Victoria Station it is only a short walk to Grosvenor Park. While you are there, you can catch a kudu. You can also catch a lioness trying to catch a kudu.

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Map of Our World
Lioness & Lesser Kudu

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Post # 356

The Flying Foxes Of Sydney

Location: Sydney, Australia
Address:  Royal Botanic Garden, Mrs Macquaries Road
Date: May 2012
Website:  www.botanicgardens.org.au

   The Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney is home to a large variety of plants. This in turn attracts a large variety of birds to live and eat in the gardens. There is also one type of mammal that finds the gardens very inviting. At one point there were up to 30,000 flying foxes who made their home here.

  We first chose to explore the gardens by riding the miniature train called the Choo Choo Express. If we were going to travel under thousands of bats then we wanted a roof over our heads.

  Sure enough we could see little black creatures hanging upside down in the trees. In the bat world, the Grey-Headed Flying Fox is the largest bat in all of Australia and has a wingspan of about one metre.

  After our Choo-Choo ride we did venture over to get a closer look at the colony. When you see them hanging upside down in a tree you might see the thick black wings and a big tuft of orange fur. The big tuft is the fur around their necks. They get their name from the grey hairs on their heads.

  To see all the flying foxes take off and go foraging at night would be quite a sight. We were not lucky enough to have witnessed this. 

  Flying foxes are also known as fruit bats. They only eat fruit and therefore do not need echolocation.  Other bats that use echolocation are trying to capture insects mid air. Fruit is a little less agile.

Other bats may have giant ears relative to their heads. The flying fox looks more like a dog or, you guessed it, a fox. The flying fox is the best looking bat. Some bats look like they are just giant ears and teeth.

 For comparison, this angry little fellow is a little brown bat from North America. He seems rather unhappy to be held.

     Since the large colony arrived in the Royal Botanic Garden they have killed more than 30 large mature trees and damaged hundreds more. The flying fox colonies were moved in June 2012. We visited in May 2012 just before the relocation was to start. 

  Loud music was played to disturb the bats from sleeping. Maybe a local Sydney rock band like AC/DC would have been too much for the bats to tolerate?

  The plan worked and the bats moved to a new location away from the disturbance. You can now find a large colony in Sydney's Centennial Park. If you visit the Royal Botanic Garden take a look up at the trees and you may still see a few flying foxes.

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Map of Our World
Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

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Post # 353