Sunday, June 28, 2009

Zoo

Went to the North Carolina Zoo, which was great, but huge. We actually did see it all, but we were there from open til close.
look, a bear! This i a Grizzley; they also had bears of the polar and black varieties.

There was a carousel, on which all the animals were endangered. The Widge rode three times!
These eggs were over near the antelopes, rhino, and elephants, none of which, as far as I know, hatch out of eggs. If, however, any of those species were to hatch, I'm guessing the egg would have to be at least this large.
Look, an elephant!They had a really great children's area, including a giant chalkboard wall, a maze, sand areas, this little farm zone, and the ability to build your own shelters, as depicted in the following video:



he was actually singing a beaver song, too: "I'm a beaver, I build my house, my family lives there, and then we swim..."apparently, teams of scientists go around the game preserves in Africa, collaring elephants. The collars transmit signals to a satellite, which sends the signals, for some reason, to France, which sends the signals to this particular zoo. The collars theoretically could transmit for 16 months, but the battery dies after a year. The collar stays on the elephant forever, and I'm wondering if the collared elephants have some special club where they discuss their status as fashion elite elephants. Also, "game preserves" sounds like the sort of jelly you make with the leftovers from the 10-point buck you shot last year.

the scientists fly around in helicopters like this one.

look, a lion!
I'm hoping the squash I planted doesn't grow quite this big, although the Widge would love it.

look, a rhino!

there were also real rhinos, but the Widge didn't seem as interested in them.

we also saw bison, otters, ocelots, bobcats, snakes, lizards, birds, elks, and pretty much everything else on the list of stuff the Tasmanian Devil can eat. But no rabbits.