to be honest, i'm not really a big fan of zoos for the obvious reasons. animals should live in the wild and be able to just be wild animals, but since we've destroyed (and keep on destroying) their homes, we have to take care of them. unfortunately many zoos treat their animals the worst way possible, locking them up in tiny oppressive cages, barely feeding them and not cleaning up. in the singapore zoo however, the animals are kept in spacious, landscaped environments simulating that of their natural habitat. these are separated from the visitors by deep dry or wet trenches, which 
makes the zoo a model of the 'open zoo' concept (aka, monkeys jumping around in the trees above you). the more dangerous animals such as leopards and jaguars are kept in glass fronted enclosures. the zoo, night safari and birdpark are all a part of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), which strives to be a world class leisure attraction, providing excellent exhibits of animals presented in their natural environment, for the purpose of conservation, education and 
recreation. there are many educational programmes available and you can also adopt an animal. the zoo has a land area of 28 hectares and 16% of the species are threatened species. the night safari has 40 hectares of land and 29% of the animals are threatened. this is the only night safari on the world btw and if you ever have the privilege of spending some time in singapore, then you cannot miss it! what i really noticed in both the zoo and night safari is the amount of time spent on the decoration and the way the places are put together. also the people who work with the animals (either feeding or doing the shows) really like their jobs and care about the animals, which is nice to see.(oh yeah, if you are walking around in the rainforest area of the night safari, then be careful with the huge bats flying around...one of them peed on my face (stop laughing it's not funny!!))
i took pictures of almost every single animal and spent so much time just staring at them, it was incredibly cool (some pics are a bit crappy though, but in my defense, animals move around the whole time, there was sometimes glass in between and my camera's zoom wasn't always good enough). the night safari was also an awesome experience, but unfortunately taking pictures there wasn't really possible (flash and animals is not a very good combo) so you will have to go there for yourself :)
pygmy hippos, kangeroo, boars
aldabra giant tortoises (pic above left shows how giant): the second largest tortoise after the galapagos tortoise and it can weigh up to 360 kg. they live in swamps, scrubland and coastal dunes, eating leaves, grass and carrion (including dead tortoises). the bottom right tortoise in the pics here is astove, the oldest animal in the zoo. he's 70 years old, weighs 273 kg and and has a shell of 1.2m! giant tortoises have a very long life span. the record holder is named harriet, who died at an estimated age of 176 years in an australian zoo in 2006. she was believed to have been captured on the galapagos island of ecuador in the mid-1830's. in the old days sailors captured giant tortoises by thousands, stored them on board their vessels and slaughtered them when needed. obedient and able to survive without food for long periods, giant tortoises became a convenient source of fresh meat on long voyages. the aldabra gained protection in the late 1880's and now there is a healthy population of about 150.000 giant tortoises. around the world, turtles and tortoises suffer from excessive egg collection, poaching, water pollution and habitat destruction.
hamadryas baboons, celebes crestes macaques, brown capuchins
lion-tailed macaques (the most endangered macaque today, only a few hundred remain in the wild), spider monkey (that thing hanging from her butt is not what you think, it's actually the female reproductive organ), cotton top tamarins (more than 75% of their habitat is destroyed)
some monkeys have been conditioned to free range within certain areas and if you pay attention and look up you will see them climbing around above you
proboscis monkeys!! these look so awesome. they live in the mangrove riverine forests of borneo. the monkeys have to travel up to look for food. their webbed feet enable them to swim well and to walk on mangrove mud without sinking. their enlarged stomachs contain bacterias which break down and deactivate the poisons in the leaves that they eat. they have to avoid fruit, since it causes a sudden build up of gas and acid which results in bloating and kills them. adults have a large drooping nose which is probably a beauty mark, drawing females to them. it helps resonate the males' loud vocalizations.
elephants! this was at the elephant show, where they explain how elephants work together. afterwords you could feed them, which was so cool!!
lions, white tigers and leopards
my favourite one: leopard cat. it's the most common wild cat in asia and may still occur in mainland singapore. it exists on pulau tekong, an island off the northeastern coast of singapore. in china it is called 'jing chien mao' or 'money cat' because its markings are said to look like old chinese coins. the leopard cat lives in tropical forests, pine forests, semi-deserts and crop plantations, and eates rodents, reptiles, birds, fish and occasionally grass.
rhinocerus iguana and two other uhm, lizardy creatures
meerkats, south african ground squirrels, otters
guanaco, couple of young greater kudus, some other type of antelope (these normally have two antlers, but i think that this one is a magical unicorn)
giraffes woohoo, and yes that is me feeding one :)
rhinos and zebras
this special creature here is called a tree nimph, also known as 'rice paper' a sit floats gently in the air. toxin derrived from leaves that the caterpillar feeds on makes it unpleasant to eat for predators.
i found this plant in the tropical garden. it's called 'nipple grinjal' also known as 'cow's udder' or 'titty fruit', because of its interesting shape. the choco indians used the fruit to poison cockroaches. the seeds are used to treat kidney and bladder problems.
a nice coloured bug, phasmatodea (walking stick), malayan horned frog (seen from the back, the pointy greenish things in the picture are on his head and that round black thing underneath it is his left eye...see it?)
mwuhahaha, spooky flying foxes, the largest bats with a wingspan of up to 2m
only after the last tree has been cut down
only after the last river has been poisoned
only after the last fish has been caught
only then you will find that money cannot be eaten
(an old cree indian saying)
