Smithsonian National Zoo

It was very warm indeed from the start of the day today.   We headed for the National Zoo in Washington DC, hoping that we would be able to find some shade and also that the animals would not all be hiding from the heat!

We found that indeed a number of animals were rather sleepy in the heat.  Both of the Giant Pandas were fast asleep while the young Bao Bao was almost invisible high up in a tree.

The elephants were quite lively although outside, one of them was using his trunk to spray sand all over his back, presumably to stay cool.

In the tiger enclosure the young tigers were very alert - but this was largely because a duck had flown down into the enclosure and was floating in the water at a tantalising distance from the tigers.  

One of the tigers did make a jump for it into the water but that was the photo of the day which, like the duck, was the one that got away!

The tigers chased each other around after the excitement of chasing the duck, but then all settled down for a rest.