There was a special guest Thursday at the Minnesota Zoo. But this one was of the human variety.
Peter Greenberg is Travel Editor for CBS News and the host of the CBS Radio show "Eye On Travel", a three-hour program heard here on WCCO Radio on Saturday night at 11:00 p.m. or Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
The show takes Greenberg all around the world to exotic and remote places looking for hidden gems. You might not think about the Minnesota Zoo as that, but Greenberg says the zoo is full of them.
"You don't expect to find tigers in Minnesota. You don't expect to find, you know, monkeys from different parts of the world in Minnesota," Greenberg explained to WCCO's Susie Jones.
The program was recorded at the Minnesota Zoo, which is 500 acres making it one of the largest zoo's in the country and the world.
"What a great place to tape a show from. But more important than that, it's the stories that they tell," Greenberg said. "It's the work that they do in animal conservation. And it's all about outreach that they're doing that makes the zoo so much an important place to visit, but also to experience."
Greenberg says part of his job is to be a travel detective of sorts at each location he visits.
"You know, it's all about hidden gems and it's all about making those hidden gems accessible and what they have here at the zoo," he says. "It's not your typical zoo."
The Minnesota Zoo has been in the headlines both locally and nationally lately after the birth and debut of two new Amur (Siberian) tiger cubs that are now on display. Those tigers are now extremely rare with less than 500 still in the wild making their births and conservation all the more important.
Created by the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Zoo opened in 1978 with a mission to "connect people, animals, and the natural world to save wildlife."
The CBS "Eye On Travel" show from the Minnesota Zoo airs on the weekend of October 19th-20th. You can hear that on 830 WCCO or on the Audacy app.