Minnesota Zoo

[guppiecat]

A few weeks ago, I took a trip to the Minnesota Zoo and just recently got around to captioning the photos. I have enough to post highlights for several days, but if you want to jump the gun, the set is here. Today is about bears, bison, prairie dogs and an inchworm.




Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) - Yep, early Americans came to this continent, witnessed large 500 pound beasts with gigantic claws and teeth, capable of ripping a full grown man apart with one swipe of their paw... and decided that they'd make a good stuffed toy for children.


Leopard Wall - Notice that there are five padlocks keeping the leopards inside (or, more likely, keeping humans outside). Note also that the two padlocks at the top serve ABSOLUTELY no purpose.


Bison (Bison bison) - In the heat of the late afternoon sun, the organic muck in superheated ponds combine with runoff from the nearby fields and bisonogenesis will sometimes occur.


Bison (Bison bison) - Weebles aren't the only things that wobble.


Bison (Bison bison) - Thirsty bisons drink warily as there may be sabertooth tigers lurking beneath the surface. Some behaviors are genetically hardcoded. This is not one of them. This is me lying my ass off.


Bison (Bison bison) - When growing bisontrees, it is important to make the quantities of the trees and the bison match.


Black Tailed Prairie Dog - "I am Marmot. I lay between the hillock and the hole. We are Marmot. We lay between the darkness and the light. "


Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) - Good prairie dogs get to go to the zoo and watch the captive children.


Inchworm - It was actually about 1.2 inches long. Must be from Texas.

Comments

[rvrjoe775.livejournal.com]

You clearly visited the zoo during cooler weather than we had last Friday, because we didn't see the amount of activity you did from the monorail. It is also true that we were taking more picture of the nephew than we were of the animals...

[guppiecat]

I've never done the monorail at the zoo. Somehow I doubt that I'd get good photos.

Also, the animals tend to be more active when you spend ridiculously long times at the enclosure. The zoo outing for this set was 7 hours.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Okay, I think that's "I am Mammon..." but I can't remember where it's from.

The captive child, though, is the protagonist of Carol Emshwiller's Wilmer or Wesley which is in the August issue of Asimov's.

[guppiecat]

The original is from Babylon 5. "I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star. We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light." I like the idea of a Grey Council filled entirely by zoo animals. :)

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't watch B5 that often.