tcastleb

Went to the zoo today. Found out the UV filter doesn't work real well when it comes to the inside exhibits, or when there's no sun out. Duh. Yeah, I know. Figured I'd try it anyway.

Bet you'll never guess what this little guy is. And bet you'll never guess what it's closest living relative is.



It's a rock hyrax. There were three of these little cuties in the nursery, born about a month ago. And the nearest relative? An elephant, believe it or not. One of the keeper dudes told me that they had little fangs in their mouth which are sort of like mini-tusks, and their feet are vaguely elephantine.

This is Eloise and her baby girl, Karim Alam, which means "generous nature." They're siamangs and they share an exhibit with the orangutans. I got lucky; they were right up by the glass today.



Probably my favorite pic of the day--this rock agama.



Me being artistic again. There's a sleeping gorilla out there.



And this turned out good; mere inches away, but I had to put the camera up to the fencing so as not to get the fencing. These galapagos tortoises are characters. Some are near 100 years old and they scrape as they walk.

Okay. Have to admit, I love my new toy.

This one's my favorite of the day, just the way it turned out. The guanacos are photogenic anyway, and they're only a couple feet away, but doesn't it look all soft and fuzzy?



( more pics )

There's a few more up at my flickr account over here.

And all right, all right, I'll take it to school with me . . .

. . . my zoo love gave to me:

Eleven hissing cockroaches, ( Read more... )

Funny thing about these bugs. When I lived in the dorms, I had one for a pet in one of those plastic cages with slitted lids. I looked in the cage one day, and *poof* I had 30 baby Madagascan hissing cockroaches. Next day I had about half that many--seems the little buggers escaped. I found a few, but I never did find them all. My dorm-mates didn't exactly appreciate knowing that. Eventually the ones I had left all died because I fed them some flower that turned out to be poisonous to them.

( Ten )

. . . my zoo love gave to me:

Nine sable antelope,



These are still some of my favorite animals, but they're all the way up at the Wild Animal Park now, and much, much harder to get a good pic of. Not that I get to see any hoofed critters at the zoo for about another year, because they're redoing the whole horn and hoof mesa section.

( Eight )

. . . my zoo love gave to me:

Seven cormorants,



(There are two hiding in the nest on the right that are a bit hard to see. This would also be considered a gulp of cormorants. More fun names of animal groups.)

( Six )

. . . my zoo love gave to me:

Five taaaaaaaallll giraffes!



(oh. And I just added links to all the critters so you can find out more about them.)

( Four )

. . . my zoo love gave to me:

Three killer whales,



( Two Oryxes, )

. . . my zoo love gave to me:

A walrus whispering secrets.



(Note: These all come with the caveat that I wanted to mess with the pics for something different, so I did, and this year the selection includes Sea World.)

So I drug myself out of bed early and made it up to the Wild Animal Park right about when they opened. Really a nice day up there, and I got to see all kinds of neat critters, like this lion. All that stood between us was a piece of plexiglass. How cool is that?



( More zoo pics )

The car is now officially mine, and officially Californian. It only took an hour (not really waiting, just running from window A to car several times to get it checked, and then to get the proper tools for removing my CO license plates because I had to change them right there and hand them over.)

And, since the DMV was in the neighborhood, I went to the zoo!

Lots of new baby critters, including a baby camel, but my pics of him weren't that great. (Might've been because of the root beer float I was holding on to with one hand.) Took a stroll along Horn and Hoof Mesa, and stopped to see my favorite hoofstock (funny, it's all the ones with long, pointy black horns.)

Addax! There's just something cool about seeing rare antelope have babies.



Sable Antelope! Yes, they're still my favorite. This little guy actually noticed me and came walking towards me to get a sniff. He has his tongue sticking out. That's Mom right behind him, and I'm assuming Dad right behind her.



And these two guys I was delighted to see; baby scimitar-horned oryx, part of a population that will eventually go back to northern Africa or thereabouts to be released into the wild. These critters spooked easy, too, which is probably a good thing.



Must get some writing done, though I might actually have a chance to watch Pan's Labyrinth tonight. Have to get up early tomorrow and say goodbye to Stanley, my old car. He's got a good home, but I'm still sorta sad.