Pana’ewa Rainforest Zoo

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Sriracha, a tiger at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
Sriracha yawns. Check out those teeth!

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Animal or Bird in farm or zoo.’ See more responses here.

Pana’ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, is the only zoo on the island. It’s quite small, but is definitely a family-friendly destination. We like to visit once in a while to see the zoo’s star attractions, Sriracha and Tzatziki, a pair of Bengal Tigers. Captions are on the photos.

An Emu at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
An Emu having a good hair day.
A Red Tegu lizard at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
A Red Tegu lizard.
A Peacock at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
Peacocks wander the grounds looking for tasty snacks.
Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtles at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtles.
Tzatziki, a white tiger at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
Tzatziki, staying cool in the shade of a stand of bamboo.
A bench representing Hawaiian crows at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii

This is one of the many benches in the zoo representing animals that live there. These are ‘Alalās, the endemic Hawaiian Crow. There are no longer any ‘Alalās in the wild and just over a hundred in captivity. The building behind this bench is one of the few places where these birds are bred, with a view to reintroducing them in the wild. So far, attempts to do this have failed, for a variety of reasons including disease and predation. One of the current projects is a release on Maui where Ios, Hawaiian hawks, a major predator of ‘Alalās, are no longer found.

14 thoughts on “Pana’ewa Rainforest Zoo”

  4. Terri Webster Schrandt's avatarTerri Webster Schrandt

    Wow, that tiger! Love the emu, too, Graham. Sad about the crows. I’m glad the zoo created a welcoming habitat for them. I’m sure they were prolific before the missionaries came and other brought animals. Great post with amazing pics!

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