First up, a quick stop on the way to Africa at the well hidden "Poultry Section" to see a rather friendly turkey. No wonder he's friendly. What a great gig for a turkey, comparatively speaking.
Now a few pictures of the warthog in all his glory:
Would you say dry rub, or marinade?
I think the tougher meat would benefit from a marinade, something acidic to tenderize it.
Certainly a prime candidate for a low and slow hickory smoke.
Back on track. This bird was doing such a strange trick I had to get a picture of it. It looks like one of those strange distorted perspective tricks, but he is really sitting down on the lower half of his legs, with his "knees" bent 90 degrees THE OTHER WAY. Looked really strange, I tell you.
A yawning duiker.
Now onto the African birds exhibit. Forgive the blurriness but this was an interesting enough bird to include anyway.
A pair of brightly coloured...oh who am I kidding, "birds" is as specific as I am going to get.
I remember this hairstyle from the 80s.
Ahhh! The Mister Burns bird!
Seriously, how can you not love a bird that looks like Mister Burns?
Strange sort of duck. Hey, at least that's more specific than "bird". Don't-you-judge-me!
I used to have the inexpensive version of this bird, mine was a budgerigar. This is a parrot or parakeet of some variety.
I think that is a bird...
Blue billed ducks. No, that is not their name. That I know of...maybe it is!
Another shot...
...and we're out of the aviary. Next up, the ever-fierce sausage roll of a rodent, the comically neck-less Rock Hyrax, striking a "I will feed on the entrails of your progeny!" pose.
The rhinoceros.
A pair of zebras:
A pair of zebras: (wait didn't I already do this caption?)
A pair of zeb....*ahem* I mean here's the weird velociraptor bird over by the zebra/giraffe area:
A closeup...he appears to share the same interest in ascertaining the colour of my insides as the Rock Hyrax.
Asleep maybe?
Nope!
Finally an unusually modest photo of our favourite exhibitionist primates. No, I am not referring to _______ [fill in the blank to make your own popular culture joke].
4 comments:
The rock hyrax... it really sounds like a creature from the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual 3rd edition.
I imagine it would be chaotic evil with some form of breath weapon and poisonous rear claws (3d8 damage with a 20% chance for 1d4 extra poison damage for 3 turns)... and perhaps the special ability to transform into ummm... a rock.
I was around 19 or 20 when I first discovered Tolkien...so I was spared a teenage obsession with Dungeons and Dragons and similar things. However, my consummate nerdliness manifested itself in different ways.
I even bought a couple supremely geeky (and actually quite boring) board games, the main one being "Squad Leader". I understand how these things could have been fun prior to computer games, but good lord it is a lot of work to play these games:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/172602
I judge you well for these photos...your anthropomorphizing of the animals is always entertaining.
Makes me want to visit the zoo quite a bit.
I wouldn't be doing my job as a shill for the zoo if I didn't recommend a zoo membership. Instead of wasting 10 bucks or more for a one-time visit, buy a $50 "Individual Plus" membership, which allows you and a guest to visit any time, year round. Lord knows we've gotten an excessive amount of use out of ours. People think of the zoo as a place to visit maybe once a year or less, like a theme park, and a lot of people grouse about not being able to see the animals...but the thing to do is come on a somewhat regular basis, and you'll get to see them...any given day, some animals will be hiding. And its great sort of mild exercise.
One of the weirdest things to do is to visit Africa before the official launch of the season. Because it is technically closed, no one or very few people walk over there, but if it is warm enough, some animals will be out. And since the place is deserted, the animals will be interested in you. Rather a spine tingling experience...the cheetahs strode boldly up to us, and the lions were keeping all eyes on us too.
All in all I think we have a great zoo, and it is a municipal asset we should be proud of. Looking forward to taking the little one, and seeing what the newly opened section with the river otters looks like!
Post a Comment