Twins in the Cities: Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Ohio

Visiting zoos on important family days seems to be a trend for us. Our first anniversary was spent at the Toledo Zoo. Our second anniversary at the Minnesota Zoo. On Mother's Day last year we took my visiting parents to the Columbus Zoo. This year, we celebrated Father's Day with my husband's side at the Cleveland Zoo. Can you tell we like zoos?

Something unique about this zoo is the The Rainforest portion that lies outside of the zoo (still included in the zoo ticket). It's a 2 acre 2 level exhibit with 600 jungle animals from Asia, Africa and Americas. They even simulate a rain storm, which kids love. One of the least expected, but incredibly interesting exhibit was the leaf cutter ants. The cases gave you the opportunity to see their tunnels and constant activity. With clear tubes you'd see ants transferring leaves from one glass case to another. Very impressive to see the amount of work these small creatures could accomplish.

CATS: If you're like my father in law and like cats these are the cats to see : Lion, Cheetah, Snow Leopard, Black footed cat, Fishing cat, Ocelot, Siberian tiger.

*Also my father-in-law LOVES the red panda, which with the outdoor exhibit set-up made viewing the 2 of them easy, and I'd say was the best compared to the other zoos we've visited listed above.

BEARS: Sun Bear, Sloth Bear, Grizzly Bear, Black Bear, Andean Bear

MONKEYS / LEMURS: these animals were well represented at the zoo, with some of my faves being Gorillas, Mandrills, 3 Tamarin varieties, Orangutan

Just like the Columbus Zoo, the Cleveland Zoo features koalas (MY FAVORITE) in both an indoor and outdoor cage. Lucky to catch a few minutes of both of these guys waking up for a few minutes, partly because we checked back periodically every time we walked by the exhibit.

The African Elephant exhibit had five elephants in it, and gave you the opportunity to view the animals from different perspectives, which was nice since the elephants were spread throughout it.