Sacramento Zoo Animals Part III 2/7/15 Patterns! Patterns! Patterns!

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."

~~ Anatole France

"Giraffes are fairytale animals, almost heraldic - as if from the land of fables.  They have extremely beautiful faces, huge eyes, very sensitive nostrils, and oh!  blue tongues!"
~~ Joanna Lumley

 The baby. 

"An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language." ~~ Martin Buber

"I asked the zebra,
Are you black with white stripes?
Or white with black stripes?

And the zebra asked me,
Are you good with bad habits?
Or are you bad with good habits?
Are you noisy with quiet times?
Or are you quiet with noisy times?

Are you happy with sad days?
Or are you sad with happy days?
Are you neat with some sloppy ways?
Or are you sloppy with some neat ways?

And on and on and on and on
And on and on he went.

I'll never ask a zebra
About stripes
Again."

~~Shel Silverstein "A Light in the Attic"

Beep Beep!  (It's the Greater American Roadrunner)

"Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind's capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship.

We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don't.  Because they all stand unequal and powerless before us." 
~~Matthew Scully

"Let us remember that animals are not mere resources for human consumption.

They are splendid beings in their own right, who have evolved alongside us as co-inheritors of all the beauty and abundance of life on this planet."  ~~Marc Bekoff

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

~~Mahatma Gandhi

xoxo

The Animals of the Sacramento Zoo - Part II 2/7/15

It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.

Mark Twain

We're going to just jump right in here.

This gorgeous boy is an Azure-winged Mapgie

Caution!  Cuteness Red Panda Overload Alert!

Excuse me please!  I'm trying to get through here!  (The poor panda on the right was sleeping.)

He's got the Kanye snarl-smile down pat.

Turtle Taxi!

Chinese Stripe-neck Turtle

Emu.  Such soulful eyes.

This little river otter may look dead, but he was just chillin'.  He yawned and stretched a few times.

Mr. Fennec Fox

And Mrs. Fennec Fox

Awww, helping out a friend.  Such a nice Orangutan.

His friend was kind of crazy though.  The next picture is of the nice, calm Orangutan sitting in a tree.  Right after I took it, his friend swung up there and hung from one foot and one hand while peeing towards the crowd.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?), I did not get a picture.  haha

I did, however, get a photo of him grabbing a stick and running into the back cave with it. 

Red-billed Hornbills. Beautiful but I wouldn't want to mess with that bill. 

I'll finish up with this fantastically fat, adorable squirrel. 

Brutality to an animal is cruelty to mankind - it is only the difference in the victim.

Alphonse de Lamartine

xoxo

Sacramento Zoo - 2/7/15 - Part 1 "Ornithology ~~The Pond"

I have very mixed feelings about zoos.  There are obviously horrible zoos that should be shut down immediately.  Even in "good" zoos...are the animals really happy?  Or, are they stressed out?  Miserable?

Probably all of the above.  

And frankly, as I write and think of horrible things done in the name of zoos, I'm just so sad and...well, it's not conducive to the happy homage to animals that I hope for with my photos.  So I'm just going to stop.

There are obviously some benefits of zoos and I'll just focus on that since I would never patronize or support any sub-par zoos, roadside attractions (like the tiger who lives at a gas station), etc.

I do think good zoos have value as conservation of species that stupid humans are sometimes not so slowly killing out in the wild.  They serve as a teaching moment (hopefully) for school children and families to hopefully help create a more sensitive future for these glorious creatures. 

And on that note...

Post 1 of probably several starring the animals of the Sacramento Zoo.

One of the first places you see and hear (and smell, but we won't think of that) at the Sacramento Zoo is the pond area which is home to a large flock of American Flamingos.

These four immediately caught my attention with their loud honking.  They were putting on quite a show at the feeding trough...their neck movements reminded me of Medusa!

Also in the pond are a large variety of ducks, geese, and even a couple beautiful pelicans. 

So many colors in their lovely, shiny feathers.  This is a sleeping White-faced Whistling Duck.

This is one of my favorite pictures.  The swirly water, gorgeous brown feathers, blue beak, and frame of reeds looks pretty cool. 

And I honestly don't know what kind of duck that is!  It looks similar to the White-faced Whistling duck above, but not really.  And there is no exact match on the zoo's website.  But it's a beauty!

This is a sleeping (in case you can't tell and thought it was a one-footed zombie duck with a broken neck) Fulvous Whistling duck.  

And more Fulvous friends.

And more...I just love their glorious plumage. 

And speaking of glorious plumage...moar flamingos!

They. Have. PURPLE! Feet. 

This little guy is an American Coot.

And this beauty is a Southern Crested Screamer.  And it's pretty loud.

And here we have two sleeping American White Pelicans and their little Red Breasted Goose friend.

And now they're awake!  And floating around serenely.

 I just love the reflections in the water.

We'll finish with this guy.  He was stalking me and I mean REALLY.  I was standing by the feeder and he kept walking right up to me.  He wanted his picture taken!  So I obliged and they turned out to be some of the best. 

Join us next time for Lions and Tigers and Bears!  Oh my!

No, actually I didn't get to see any of those things.  haha But join us anyway. :-)

xoxo