Glad to see you back today. We have been walking through the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa Florida with the fam. Hot day and everyone was sweating and tired. But, like the sturdy troopers we all are, and because the cost of entry is obscenely high, we trundled forward.
But before we do I received a bit of pushback on a couple of my comments yesterday. First, I know that snakes are dry and not slimy. I also know, or thought I knew the difference between a hippo and a rhino, although from the rear they both look eerily alike. Yes, that picture is, indeed a couple of rhinos. My confusion comes from the fact that there are apparently two pens containing rhinos, the other which will be in todays post. Thanks for the emails letting me know. One email even told me that, in not so many words, a person with degrees in philosophy should know such distinctions. This individual obviously has never had any philosophy courses, otherwise he would know that, given enough paper, lead and BS, anything is possible.
My apologies for the snake lovers out there who, though either misguided by schoolyard chums, bad whiskey or perhaps living a childhood with serpents crawling up to the old homestead from a cavernous ravine to who knows where, actually consider them as pets. In my world a pet is something that has soft fur, not oily scales, who lick you with affection rather than being sensored by a split tongue to determine whether you are edible yourself, and feed to that furry loving creature kibbles instead of a live mouse every 2 weeks.
Again my appreciation for the kind notices setting me straight. It is nice to know that people are reading.
I may be old fashioned but I think giraffes and elephants are cool. I like the pattern on these beasts.
Elephants are truly neat, too, and this guy preferred to eat with his rear leg hiked like he is a Lipizzaner.
Okapi? Or are they something else. I'm not sure, didn't take the time to look. I guessed they are supper-on-the-hoof for many of the creatures I was looking at, and then wondered what goes on in Zoos after closing times, and, unfortunately, my mind raced. Must have been the heat.
Always popular, Zebras are the prime rib of the animal kingdom.
All I could think of with this guy was Lawrence of Arabia and how funny these guys look when they run. Go watch the movie again. It's funny how the older I get the better L of A gets.
They offered an opportunity to feed the camels for a nominal fee.
But Brendan wanted to feed this crazy guy, a tough Rhino.
Popular at the zoo and on TV, these meerkats were, no kidding, looking to the sky in an endless search for predators.
Always vigilant, always wary, always guarding the herd.
There is a ride here and next to the track on the left is a shack with a dock jutting out into the pond. On the dock was...
...this fierce fellow basking in the shade. I believe it was a Filipino Gator. They cool off through their mouths.
My fantasy baseball team is called the Fighting Flamingoes. These beautifully shaded guys were lazily enjoying the shade and shallow creek.
The Fighting Flamingoes ended up in 6th place (out of 10) but embarrassingly made the playoffs due to a tie. But we are getting tromped so I will be out of it after this week.
A crazy shade of orange-pink-salmon that would be a bitch to mix.
This is some cat laying in the shade, a cougar I think.
Gators aren't very active but you can watch them blink every now and again.
Even sedentary they are awesome beings and pretty damn scary.
"Hello, little gator."
Speckled in the green water were an occasional white feather. I began my "what goes on in the zoo at closing time" game again. Or better yet, wouldn't it be cool to feed the predators with livestock while the patrons are watching. The true Hunger Games.
We'll wrap this up for you tomorrow.
Mmm grass.
Brendan feeding a rhino, right?
See ya later alligator.
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