Baby Harry the Jaguar

The Jacksonville Zoo officially introduced their newest baby - a Jaguar born a few months ago and who was named Harry by the donors who bought the naming rights at a zoo fundraiser.  Pictures cannot do justice to just how cute he is: just like a normal house kitten only already much bigger and will eventually grow large enough to kill you easily, lol.  But for now he's just a kitten doing kitten things - exploring, playing with balls, pulling on trees, climbing things, falling off of things, and being just awkward enough while doing it to elicit a steady stream of , "Awwwww, that's so cute!" from the crowds.

There are many  more photos of Harry in his own Flickr set - here.

Still Alive and Kicking

But the computer wasn't!  We got moved into the new house and the old iMac promptly died, leaving us computerless more or less for the last two weeks.  In addition the hard drive could not be salvaged so we lost everything and I'm still downloading all of my stored photos off of Flickr - time consuming when there are 10,000+ of them! :)

In the meantime a photo of the Asian gardens - new at the Jacksonville Zoo - to help keep us all calm and relaxed. 

ABC Wednesday: "J" is for Jaguars

These pretty ladies are named Salsa (the black one) and Onca (the spotted one, after the scientific name for the Jaguar - Pantera Onca):




These gals are two of the various jaguars that live at the Jacksonville Zoo's "Range of the Jaguars Exhibit". Salsa is the only one of them that will go into the water. Onca just hangs around the edge or up on the fallen log watching her sister and wondering what on earth she is doing.








She's hard to see, but here is one of Salsa actually swimming down at the bottom of the pool, where she tries to catch the fish and has already eaten many thousands of dollars worth of exotic, Amazonian fishes. As the keeper standing next to us watching said, "You're a bad girl, Salsa." :)


Visit the ABC Wednesday blog for all the swimmingly good fun!

ABC Wednesday: "Z" is for Zoo

I know... how original... what can I say - it's late... zoo me. :)

All the ABC Wednesday fun can be found at http://wednesdayabc.blogspot.com

Knee Deep

An ibis (I think?), knee deep in green gunk on a pond...

At least, I guess he/she is knee deep.  Do ibises (ibi?) have knees?

Symbols or America

The Jacksonville Zoo has two American Bald Eagles that were rescued and can no longer fly by special permit - you must have the approval of the American government in order to have Bald Eagles in captivity.  These two would not survive in the wild due to past injuries. 

In the United States possession of even a feather from a Bald Eagle is punishable by a $10,000 fine and/or up to 10 years in prison.  Native Americans are permitted to have them in order to continue with their religious practices.
"Bald" is not intended to mean "without hair"; rather, "balde" was an Old English word meaning "white" and refers to the white feathers on the head, wings, and tail - so they are could be more accurately named "White Eagles" instead of Bald Eagles.

You can read more about them on the zoo's website: http://www.jaxzoo.org/animals/biofacts/BaldEagle.asp

Baby Squirrel Monkey

Cute little fella' at the zoo.  Of course, all of the squirrel monkeys are cute - a baby one is just gravy.  Not that they'd be good with gravy.  If they are I wouldn't know since I've never had one...

More shots of yesterday's sculpture

Since yesterday's Skywatch shot was just of the head, here are some shots of the rest of the sculpture, which is actually part of  a fountain in a recently remodeled section of the zoo. 

This little boy visiting with his grandparents was quite taken by it.
Here I wanted to capture the bubbles and base of the bird nest.
Lastly, a close-up of water bubbling out of the fountain itself around a spiraling group of fish and leaves.

Sky Watch Friday

At the zoo sometimes even the animals (or in this case a sculpture of an animal) get involved in sky watching.

Visit http://skyley.blogspot.com for all the SWF fun.

Sleepy Kitties

BIG sleepy kitties... when these wake up they have really big teeth and claws and eat meat... 

Jaguars at the Jacksonville Zoo.

Caution!

Giant metal elephants and hot Florida sun can be a dangerous combination to bare skin!

ABC Wednesday: "A" is for Anteater

Round two of ABC Wednesday! "A" is for Anteater, one of my favorite animals at the zoo. I just find them endlessly amusing. I had always imagined they were rather small - until I saw them in real life - but those are Aardvarks, which are small (about the size of a pig) and found in Africa. These big fellas are South American Giant Anteaters: 2-3 tall and 5-6 feet long from snout to tail and with bulky bodies, strong muscles, and large claws on their feet for digging into hard soil in their search for ants, termites, grubs, and other insects. They are beautiful creatures in their own special way, perfectly created for their purpose in life.

Thinking of warmer places

Since it is rather cold today (for Florida - lows in the 20's F last night) I will post a photo that makes me feel warmer: a shot of the courtyard of the "Range of the Jaguar" exhibit at the Jacksonville Zoo, designed to look like a South American village. Great place to head for before the crowds build up and just relax. One of my favorite places around Jacksonville. :)

At least your mom used her thumb...