If you are ever in the Carlsbad, NM are make a point to visit the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens.  It is operated by the New Mexico State Parks system.  The animals and much of the plant life is native to the area.  Follow me on my tour of the zoo and gardens.

It takes about 1.5 hours to walk through the park and see everything.  Here we have a javelina. There were actually two different areas where they had the javelinas housed but this was the best for viewing them up close.

Be sure to click and then click again to enlarge all photos.

This is inside a large aviary where they had a huge variety of birds all flying around and talking to each other.  It was very nice but I was afraid I might catch some droppings as they were flying around everywhere.

This is one of the paths that lead all throughout the gardens and sand dunes.  They had all sorts of cactus and other desert plants.

The Mexican wolf pictured below are an endangered species.  They were lucky to have several.  It was very hot the day I visited, so many of the animals were napping.

The next two pics are of elks.  The papa elk is standing guard over the two mama elks.

This elk was very friendly once I started talking to her.  She was a real sweetheart.

The mountain lions were very big.  This is a pic of one just relaxing in the shade.

This one walked almost right up to me.  The signage said that he was being treated for arthritis.  The poor thing walked with a distinct limp although he sure was interested in me.  Maybe he was hungry.  I would sure hate to meet up with one of them on a trail.  They were very big.

Next we have some bison.  I felt sorry for them because it was  so hot and they have such thick coats.

This little guy really made my day.  This was an entire prairie dog village.  He was so small, yet he had to see what was happening all around him.  Be sure and double click to enlarge this pic.

This is a few turtles cooling off in the pond.

Finally a nice pic of a pond showing all the beautiful waterlilies.  It was really beautiful

It was unfortunate it was so hot because I couldn’t see some of the animals or birds.  They were in small caves just trying to stay out of the sun and cool off.  Besides all off the animals I have shown above there were also bobcats, foxes, eagles, hawks and a nice variety of reptiles.  It was an enjoyable day despite the heat.  Inside the visitor’s center it was nice and cool with lots to see in there as well.