Going to the Zoo

[Kalon Ordona II]

I'm off to the Zoo tomorrow morning. (well, today morning, by now)
It's in Oregon, so it's a small family-and-friends trip -- me and and some of my siblings + one of our good friends. Leu-Mas Drof on this site, actually. ^^

Loads of fun. Expect pictures. ^^

I'll try especially to see if there are wolves, for SilvanArrow. Aroo.

I'll be gone all day, so I'll see you all later!

[Guest]

Well, at least I know not to bother with any new summoning techniques for you...

Have lots of fun! Can't wait to see some pictures

[Guest]

I hope you have a lot of fun! And do tell us about the visit, when you're back!

[Kalon Ordona II]

Yeah, I'm unavailable again today. I was home yesterday, but I had a lot of other stuff to catch up on. Today I'm doing a mock jury and I also work. Hopefully it isn't my turn yet in Emoria.

See you all later! I'll upload some of the Zoo pics soon.

[Silvan Arrow]

Awww...I feel special ^_^. I sure hope you found some wolves at the zoo! But please post pictures either way! Hope you had fun

[Kalon Ordona II]

Pictures aren't up yet; they're dragging their feet uploading them into the computer. If it was my camera, it'd be here already. ^^ (I have too much other stuff to save up for to get my own camera. Like what, you ask? Well, like... Monster Hunter Tri, Metroid: Other M, a new Wiimote... ...where was I?)

We did indeed find some wolves at the Zoo... although there were only two, and it wasn't a very good angle, but we did get some good shots, I think.

Anyway, at the Zoo, it was Discount Day. I figure that's why they were cleaning the penguins' pool and sprucing up the lions' place and taking care of the monkeys, etcetera. So we didn't see any lions or monkeys, and there was only one penguin sitting there in one of the caves in their little rock sculpture that must be something like an embassy of theirs within the human lands. xD

It was fun, though. We went through the North American section first, past the mountain goats and to the eagles' roost and stuff. Saw a little bobcat and a malnourished mountain lion which the zoo rescued. And there was another larger mountain lion asleep in the corner. Probably because of Discount Day, again. xD

There was a lorikeet place where these loud, rainbow-colored birds would squawk at you and lap up a bit of nectar in a sample-cup. ^^ We didn't buy any (they were $1.00 each); we got the ones people left behind. xD

We skipped the bug zoo, then went to the seals. This one kept doing loop after loop in front of the window. It was awesome the first dozen times. It was still doing it when we came to view the top of the pool several minutes later. Poor guy must do this every day of the year. It was so great to see him rub up against the huge glass underwater, though.

There were tigers. Resting. In a corner. I blame Discount Day. Still awesome!! Go tigers!!

Let's see... there was the huge Africa section. There was a giraffe; that was neat. He didn't do much. Discount Day? There were gazelle/antelope-like thingies. I had no idea their bodies and legs were so thin. It was just like Elliot (Ashton Kutcher)'s deer girlfriend Giselle in the movie Open Season. Seriously; I couldn't believe it.

We watched the fruit bats for quite a while. Fascinating creatures. We were watching one of them washing itself by licking its wing and then rubbing its wing on its head over and over. And they fly! I know, right?

Hyenas apparently like to play follow-the-leader. There were three, just walking around in single file. It was cute. ...until one recalls that their jaws are some of the most powerful on earth. xD It seems they have quite a high success rate for hunts: a whopping 70-90% for hyenas, compared with around 14%, I think it was, for lions.

One great part of the day was the demonstration of birds of prey in flight. Stage demonstration with the audience seated on a big lawn. It was cute; they started off with an archeologist gal at a dig. Her fossil got snatched by a red-tailed hawk and flown offstage, whereupon the birds-of-prey advocate gal appeared, and there ensued a fun little argument about the merits of dinosaurs versus birds of prey. (Except, the way it was set up, it felt more like a sermon on Evolution. ) They had lots of cute puns, too. One running gag was that whenever they said "Aw, rats!" two white rats would appear and walk from one end of the stage to another, up high on a vine-like thing, to the accompaniment of the Indiana Jones theme. Anyway they demonstrated a lot of different birds. There were a few vultures, an owl -- which didn't fly; they only showed it to us -- there were different kinds of hawks, there was a golden eagle, there was another vulture who could do a trick with the donations: putting them in the box. One of the hawks caught something tossed to it out of midair; that was something! The finale was a bald eagle with an 8' wingspan. Awesome. ^^

There was more to our Zoo trip, but I'll save it for when I get the pictures.
Sadly, the person with the camera forgot to bring the charge cable, so the battery ran out and we weren't able to get nearly as many pictures as we would have liked. I'll try to remember as much as I can about the stuff we don't have pictures for, which includes much of the story already.

Great fun, even if it wasn't perfect. We got in for $4.00 each instead of $10.50, so it was totally worth it. xD

[Guest]

Whoop, whoop! Sounds like a lot of fun you guys had!

[Silvan Arrow]

Yay! You found wolves! I hope you post pictures of them! Your seal story reminds me of a seal I saw at the zoo in Washington D.C. three years ago. I kept making the same loop in its tank and then just stared at this random pipe thingy for minutes at a time. I actually did a research project on what scientists call "zoochosis," which is where captive animals engage in stereotyped behaviors due to lack of mental and/or physical enrichment and small enclosures. I could go into "animal lecture mode" for hours, but I'll spare you guys the details ^_^.

[xraineyesx]

I totally wasn't even around enough to know you were MIA, Kalon. Wow. But that sounds like a lot of fun, and I totally want to go to the zoo now!

Glad your back. I can't wait to see some pictures!

[Kalon Ordona II]

There are 58 images here, so depending on your computer it might be a while before it all loads.
Enjoy!

[Guest]

Whats really ironic with the Jacksonville Zoo. In Florida.. We have Penguins!

[Guest]

Great pics, Kalon!

[Guest]

Aye, great pictures!

[Eternity]

Looks like so much fun! Nice pictures too. Man, I haven't been to a zoo since I was little. XD

[Silvan Arrow]

WHEEEEE!!!!!! Wolfies!!!! I love the black one! He/she looks just like Tanasi, one of the wolves in the pack that I work with at my job. Oooh...a scarlet kingsnake too! And the otters are so cute! It looks like you all had a wonderful time ^_^

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