Saturday, February 4, 2012

Seth's Odyssey #4: Smithsonian National Zoo in DC

Well, its been two weeks since I went to the National Zoo with my dad and my aunt. With my disability and my aunt having a bad leg which required a cane, we had to switch use of the one cart we rented out for the day. Several parts were in renovation because the zoo was building a new Elephants Trail exhibit so we did not see the Sea Lions/Seals exhibit, the Elephant House (although we did see Elephants), and Amazonia (we didn't know if it was open or not and since it was a distance to see if something was closed, we didn't bother). We did however get to see the Giant Panda exhibit, the Bird House (which we found out is not very helpful to those with handicaps), the Cheetah Conservation Trail, the Asia Trail, the Small Mammal House, the Reptile Discovery Center, the Great Apes exhibit, the Invertebrates, Lemur Island, and the Great Cats exhibit. So while we didnt see everything, we saw enough to make a very good edition of this Odyssey.

 

We begin with seeing some gazelles as soon as we parked the truck. Then there was a strange horrific
smell and we found out that it was the Maned Wolf, who is sometimes known as the "Skunk Wolf" for that smell.

Guess It Didn't Help That The Maned Wolf Decided To Take Go To The Bathroom

We also saw an Emu who was just hanging around and a wallaby who was trying to avoid attention.


Yeah Rocko Wasn't Feeling Like Hanging Out Today.

Looking At Us Saying "What's Up..."

After renting the cart, we decided to go to the Giant Panda exhibit since it was the easiest to get to. We saw both Tian Tian and Mei Xiang, but I decided to get the picture of Tian Tian because while Mei Xiang was just walking.....

Tian Tian Was Sitting Down To Eat Some Bamboo.

We then saw the Red Pandas.

Two Were Inside Hanging Sharing A Cute Moment With Each Other

While The Other One Was Outside Just Staring Off Into Space

We then saw the elephants walking around getting ready for their new exhibit where they will have more room to roam around. We all tried to get pictures of the elephants, but I was able to get the best one.


Next was the bird house where we first saw the peacocks.

Still Waiting To Get The Residuals From NBC For Using His Likeness

We saw other birds too.


This King Vulture Was Just Hanging Around While Another Went To Eat A Dead Mouse 

 

Hoo The Hell Are You???

Toucan Sam Wishes To Remind You To Follow Your Nose And To Eat Your Fruit Loops.


Also For Some Reason This Iguana Was Hanging Out With The Bird Pictured Above It.

We moved on to the Asia Trail and while there was not much there at this time. We did see a few animals.

Like My Brother's Favorite Animal, The Otter

And The Sloth Bear

Moving On, we went to the Cheetah Conservation Area.

This Cheetah Was Actually Moving Around So You Could Get A Good Picture Of It

While the other cheetahs were too far away looking at the Zebra exhibit next to them through a gate that seperated the two thinking....

Damn This Freaking Gate.....

We then went to the Small Mammal House which housed several monkeys.


But there were more than monkeys there.

Acouchis

This Meerkat At Least Knows What He Is Doing In The Zoo Instead Of In A Film Set That Is Supposed To Be Set In Central America

Yes.........Be Afraid As Porcupines Can Climb Trees Too

Shrews

Naked Mole Rats

And Finally Prevost's Squirrels

After that, we went to the Great Ape exhibit where we saw some of the larger apes.

Like This Gorilla, Who Was Staring At Us From A Hammock

I saw one Orangatan, but he was hiding under a blanket so I left him to his privacy. Afterwards, we went to see the Komodo Dragon and although most of his exhibit was under renovation, he was still out.

By The Way, This Is The Same Komodo Dragon That A Few Years Ago, Bit Sharon Stone's Husband Because He Wanted To Pet It. Dumbass Should Have Known That Komodo Dragons Do Not Want Much To Do With Humans.

And of course because it was nearby..........we went into the house that kept all the invertebrates. We were first greeted by a bunch of anenomes and a sea urchin that was hanging off the glass of the exhibit.

The People Working There Told Us An Interesting Story That A Few Days Before We Were There, One Of The Sea Urchins Started Spraying What Was Sperm All Over The Place. As His Way Of Mating So It Was Hard To See Anything In That Tank.

We saw other vertebrates, some I have seen before and some I have never seen before.

Seen These

Its The Nautilus AKA The Creature Captain Nemo Named His Sub After

The Biggest Hermit Crab I Have Ever Seen. Ironically Enough, This Species Is Called Petrochirus Diogenes AKA Giant Hermit Crab.

This Slipper Lobster, Despite The Name, Is Not A True Lobster

The Brown Part Of The Plant Is An Insect Although It Is Hard To Tell.

After we left the invertebrate house and before we headed to the Reptile Center, The Think Tank (which is kind of a place for tours), we saw an Orangatan head down there as they have a high walkway that leads from their exhibit at the Great Apes exhibit to the Think Tank.

Looks Like This Orangatan Is Performing A Reverse King Kong

Then we went into the Reptile Center and oh boy, did I get a lot of pictures.

The Chameleon, Not To Be Confused With The Spider Man Villian 

This Lizard Hid His Head From My Camera 

Indiana Jones Hates Snakes 

No Way To Get This Guy To Pose For You 

One Of Only Two Lizards That Have Poisonous Bites 

 Taking A Nap

These Two Were Very Photogenic 

This My Friend Is An Anaconda...........Probably Taking A Bath

Try To Find This Guy, I Dare Ya 

No Way You Can See This Viper's Head.....Sorry, This Guy Is Not Randy Orton

Got This Lizard Walking On The Glass......Rather Than Looking Through It 

I Do Apologize.........This Guy Was In Motion When I Snapped This

Don't Have Much To Say As I Don't Remember This Guy 

Look At This Guy, He Just Does Not Care That His Mouth Is So Narrow 

Don't Know Why......But This Turtle Was In The Same Exhibit As The Creature Above Him...Guess That Guy Doesn't Care 

Its Group Nap Time 

I Think This Guy Is Telling Me To Get The Fuck Out Of Here 

Oh Boy........A Copperhead. I've Had To Kill One Of Those Before 

This Snake Is Chilling In A Small Cave 

This Lizard Went For A Swim 

FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I Don't Even Remember If This Guy Was A Lizard Or A Snake 

More Snakes For Indiana Jones 

The Shredder Will Not Be Pleased 

I Think Im Pissing Off Dr. Jones Now 

Hi Mom 

Luckily, This Rattlesnake Is Not The Steve Austin Type 

Im Guessing Indy Has Left Now.....Oh Well

Now To Piss Off Bugs Bunny 

This Turtle Had A Very Strange Face

But there were several in this area where no matter how hard I tried, I could not get a picture of them because of the glass so I had to have my dad help me out.

I Tried 28 Fucking Times To Get This King Cobra's Picture Before I Relented To My Dad Getting His Picture

I Don't Know Why, But I Tried To Get This Alligator Snapping Turtle's Picture 6 Times Before I Gave Up. Looking Back At The Fact This Guy Was Merely Just Showing Us His Back, I Don't Know Why I Even Bothered.

After leaving that place, we tried to get into the Think Tank to see the Orangatans, but the place wouldnt open until another 30 minutes so we went on to see the Great Cats and here is where the fun really began.

This Tiger Went Around His Entire Area Growling For Anyone To Hear.

But the true stars were the lions.

Four Lionesses Decided They Were In The Mating Mood And Tried To Mate With One Guy, But The Male Lion Was Not Interested. I Shit You Not, These For Lionesses Fought Amongst Each Other And At The Same Time Tried To Rape This Guy. Another Male Walked By For A Second, But When He Saw What Was Going On, He Decided He Better Get The Hell Out Of There. THIS HAPPENED.........My Dad Actually Has Video Of This Entire Incident.

So after that eventful experience, we went to another trail for smaller cats which included....

A Caracal

We then went to the Think Tank to see the Orangatan.

Once Again, The Flash On My Camera Prevented Me From Getting A Good Picture So My Dad Had To Bail Me Out One More Time.

After that, my legs started hurting so our trip was almost through....I had to use the cart to get to the next two exhibits. The first was an animal that is my mom's favorite animal.

Prairie Dogs

Then we had to see the Giant Anteater and it took quite a bit of time, but I was finally able to get this.


Finally...after I was able to walk again, we got the best picture we could with the lemurs.


And after a long steep climb, we were able to get to the car.

Despite the fact that it took me several days to fully get rid of the pain in my legs and the fact that we were only able to get 2/3rds of the zoo done, I say that we had a fun time. So until next time, this has been another episode of Seth's Odyssey.





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