Word of the Week: Der Zoo

One sunny Monday afternoon a few weeks ago, J and I headed to the Cologne Zoo to enjoy the sunshine and learn some new nouns. 'Der Zoo' is yet another word that English and German share, and many animal names are also pretty similar:

die Flamingos

der Nilkrokodil 

die Asiatischer Elefanten
the little 6 month old in the foreground may or may not have
been  playing with a steaming pile of poo

ein Sibirischer Tiger
when we walked up, he was just chillin in the sun....
and then a toddler walker by and the tiger went into full stalk mode...

we later learned that a couple years ago a tiger got out of the
enclosure and killed its keeper....so this guy was for-real stalking
the little kid

babies for breakfast?

die Giraffen; specifically, die Netzgirrafen
(Reticulated Giraffe)

die Amerikanische Bison
they live in a hut from the 1800s, originally build for Tibetan yaks

However, not all animal names are similar, which is [yet another] thing that makes German so tricky!

"somebody get me a Piña Colada!
and don't forget the little umbrella!"
die Erdmännchen; literally, little earth men
(Slender-tailed Meerkat)

ein Gürtelvari, bored out of his mind
(White- Belted Ruffed Lemur)

der Asiatische Löwe
(Indian Lion)

die Kamele; more specifically,  die Trampeltier
(Bactrian Camels)