Feeding the Rhinos | Oklahoma City Zoo Tour

Have you ever touched a rhino? Do you even know how to spell rhinoceros or pachyderm? Yeah…me either. Until now.

This year for Jack & Hudson’s birthday celebration, our kids got the amazing chance to not just skip school but get up close and personal with the Indian and Black rhinos at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Our new friend, Dana McCrory, is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Zoological Society and the ZooFriends, and invited us to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo. You know our kids loved the golf cart!

First stop…the historical Pachyderm house, circa 1963. In the next few years it will be torn down and the rhinos and hippos will get a new, larger home. So glad.

Waiting for us was Toni Rife, one of the rhino keepers. We watched her prepare a snack for the rhinos…all food that we eat too.

For real…we were inside the Pachyderm House…as in where visitors aren’t usually allowed! It was so awesome!

The rest of the images tell the story…feeding the four rhinos and touching their rough skin. They have a funny pointed lip that works kind of like an elephant’s trunk to curl around the food and put it in their mouths. Did you know their horns are made of keratin…the same thing hair and fingernails are made of? Their eyes are also very small compared to how big they are. It was amazing to get so close to one of God’s magnificent creatures. Enjoy the pictures…

This is the largest rhino…he’s over 4000 pounds. H.U.G.E.

Thanks, Toni, for taking the time to let us feed the rhinos! And thanks, Dana, for the tour…it was awesome!