Zoo's are a great place to practice animal photography, as many know already. Anytime I get a new telephoto lens, I think its one of the best places to test it out and see how close I can get. The Calgary Zoo is open year-round, even in the winter, so you do get to see some of these animals in the snow. They also have places where they can be taken indoors if it gets to cold, but there are many of those animals that seem to live well in the cooler weather, and as the snow starts to melt a bit in the spring, its a good time to see most of them out and about.