Minnesota Zoo

[guppiecat]

Continuing the Minnesota Zoo set. Note that I am now collecting ideas in photonotes. Those photos are more about the process of photography than cute fuzzy animals, so I'll be skipping them in the highlights. If you care, you can see all my photonotes here

Today is about camels, a chipmunk, a binturong, a turtle, frogs and children.




Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) - What's better than a verdant landscape with lush green grass, a partly cloudy sky and a tree stump? A verdant landscape with lush green grass, a partly cloudy sky, a tree stump AND A CAMEL.


Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) - Mama camels should be peeled thoroughly before eating.


Chipmunk (Tamias) - Chipmunks are a type of ground squirrel, but types of ground squirrels are not necessarily chipmunks. This has been a source of great confusion in the past. The chipmunks, however, do not care about taxonomy.


Binturong (Arctictis binturong) - Stupid binturong doesn't realize that it doesn't snow in the indoor displays. It also seldom snows in June (even in Minneapolis).


Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) - I have a guess that turtles have a band of dark across their eye so that when they pop their heads above water to see, the dazzle on the surface doesn't blind them. Note that the line is usually horizontal regardless of the position of the head.


Grey Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) - Yeah, he *looks* so sure of himself and smug, but you have to realize that it's all an act. Deep inside, he wants to be a walrus.


Grey Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) - "Protective colouration. Let me show you it."


Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) - According to wikipedia, the blue jay is a "passerine" bird. According to the free online dictionary, "passerine" means "of the order Passeriformes". According to the animal diversity web, "Passeriformes" are "perching birds". According to me, you should just say that blue jays like to perch... as it well shown in this photo. Taxonomists have too much time on their hands.


Meerkat (Suricata suricatta) and Human Child (Homo sapiens sapiens photographus) - Living parasitically within meerkat communities, these small photographing apes will pop up in times of calm and make a snapping sound. In times of danger, they scurry beneath the rocks to their mothers who are often distracted by strollers and cups of coffee.


Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) - What's cuter than a prairie dog? A BABY prairie dog!

Comments

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

You definitely had a better sky for your camels than we did! (Dunno when I'll find time to make progress with mine).

I like what you did with the meerkat display and the popup viewing place, photo and caption.

[guppiecat]

I cheated my sky with a circular polarizer. :)

Glad you liked the meerkat display.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I love the landscape w/ the first camel; hard to believe it's Minnesota.

As for the second one, is it molting? What's the story on that? I actually went and looked at the original size, because I was curious, and the face is priceless! I feel that face at work all the time.

The colony of child photographers is priceless, and I love the baby prairie dog, too.

[guppiecat]

Yeah, it's basically molting. These camels are adapted for life in the Asian deserts, so it gets very cold in the winter and very warm in the summer. Much like bison, they will grow a thick winter coat and then shed it in clumps in the summer. Unlike bison, however, they sometimes shed from the top down, making them look peeled.