Tag Archives: capybara pictures

Happy anniversary to……….me!

Today is the 19th anniversary of Jim and me meeting. I was working in Detroit as a consultant in the wireless telecommunications industry. My client flew me home to San Diego every other week, and Memorial Day weekend in 1994 was my second trip home that May. I took two days of PTO (paid time off) so I could come home Wednesday night and go to the Men’s Coming Out Support Group at the Gay & Lesbian Center of San Diego, which is where Jim and I met. Imagine what might not have happened if I had not used those two days of PTO!

Jim and I are going to Pasadena today, mainly to visit the Norton Simon Museum but I’m sure we’ll also get to the Rose Bowl, Pasadena City Hall, and the Pasadena Railroad Station. I was last at the Rose Bowl in 1978. That’s when I found out that it had 77 rows of seats, a great number since I was Class of ’77 at Texas A&M University (Aggies will understand that).

My neighbors across the street are going to keep an eye on our place while we’re gone, as well as come in a couple of times to check on Zoey the Cool Cat. Sure, Zoey the Cool Cat will miss us, but she’ll get over it as soon as I get back and give her food and tummy rubs, and let her sleep on me.

I won’t be able to make it to the San Diego Zoo today, so I’ll let y’all go for me. Have fun!

Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus)
The largest of all the kangaroos
and the largest mammal native to Australia.

Masai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi)
The tallest land mammal

Sleeping mama Jaguar (Panthera onca)
The largest feline in the Western hemisphere.
This one has two cubs that are each a year old.

Meerkat (Suricata suricatta)
How come all these animals are sleeping?
Must be nice to sleep all day.

California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus)
The largest North American land bird.

Dromedary Camel (Camelus dromedarius)
Camel poop makes great fertilizer and fuel!
(Again with the sleeping animals!)

Mexican Fireleg Tarantula (Brachypelma boehmei)
Gets to six inches in size and
flicks barbed bristles (called urticating hairs) when irritated.

Sleeping(!) Guanaco (Lama guanicoe)
Guanaco spit when threatened.

Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)
Mama and two little ones.
The largest rodent in the world.

Eating Jaguar
This is one of the cubs from mommy above.

Female African Lion (Panthera leo)
Sleeping. Duh.
Second-largest living cat; tigers are bigger.

Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus)
Nickname is “skunk wolf” because its mane has a distinctive odor.

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)
Sleeping, of course.
The polar bear was the mascot of the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Canada.

The End

I’m Zoey the Cool Cat,
and I approve this post.

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!

New pictures from the San Diego Zoo

23 Replies

Even though I go to the San Diego Zoo, the Safari Park, and SeaWorld at least once a week, I never fail to take hundreds of pictures and get some new ones that are completely different from any I have taken previously.

Here are some from my visit to the San Diego Zoo a couple of days ago:

The Desert Bighorn Sheep is a new resident at the San Diego Zoo. There are quite a few at Safari Park and perhaps this one came down from there. They are native to the American southwest and northern Mexico and can go for several months without drinking water, getting the water they need from whatever they eat. However, in some cases they will lose up to 30% of their body weight while going without water, rapidly recovering from dehydration as water becomes available. This adaptability helps them survive in areas where their predators cannot. I hope that if I go hiking out in the boondocks enough times, eventually I’ll see one of these beautiful animals in the wild.

The llama is a domesticated animal that appears to have originated in the plains of North America about forty million years ago. They migrated to South America about three millions years ago, and at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago, they were extinct in North America.

The Guanaco is related to the llama and has virtually the same range in South America. They can run at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, even over steep and rocky terrain, and are also excellent swimmers. Their only natural predator is the mountain lion.

The Red Kangaroo is the largest of the kangaroos. Males can leap up to thirty feet in one single bound, which makes me believe that the two at the San Diego Zoo really like it here because their habitat would easily allow them to hop out.

Also called the Indian Rhinoceros, there are two residing at the San Diego Zoo. They are listed as a vulnerable species with only about 3,000 remaining in the wild. As the fourth largest living land animal, they can get up to 8,800 pounds in weight. Poaching rhinoceroses for their horns, believed to be an aphrodisiac, has resulted in a decline in their population. Fortunately, Zoos have been able to breed this rhinoceros in captivity, and several have been returned to the wild.

The Bactrian Camel is the rarer of the two camel species. It is a critically endangered species with only about 800 left in the wild. The ones at the San Diego Zoo like to drool a lot when I’m there, leading me to believe that I am, indeed, quite handsome.

The Pronghorn is the animal that many of us know as a Pronghorn Antelope although it is not a true antelope. It is also the Antelope mentioned in the song “Home On The Range.”

Capybaras are native to South America and are the world’s largest rat. Well, maybe not actually a rat, but they are in with the rodents as to their scientific classification.

The beautiful lion is listed as a vulnerable species with only about 40,000 left in the wild. Lions have been known to breed with tigers to create hybrids called ligers, tiglons, or tigons. They also have bred with leopards to produce leopons, and jaguars to produce jaglions.

The Grant’s Zebra is the smallest of the zebras. Did you know that zebra stripes are just like human fingerprints, no two being the same?

Remember that the Koala is not a bear. Rather, it is a marsupial, like kangaroos and wallabies, in that it carries its young in a pouch. Koalas are a vulnerable species, with only about 80,000 left in the wild. The San Diego Zoo is building a huge new “Australian Outback” exhibit for its Koala population, the largest outside of Australia.

There used to be three Meerkat exhibits at the San Diego Zoo, but one was destroyed to make way for the new Australian Outback exhibit for the Koalas. The largest and the smallest exhibits remain, and this Meerkat was in the larger exhibit. Meerkats love the sun and can often be found relaxing in sunny spots of their exhibit, which are now much more numerous since theirs is one of the exhibits where lots of trees and vegetation overgrowth were removed recently.

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!

In a state of ecstacy at the San Diego Zoo

26 Replies

The world is scheduled to end at 12:21 p.m. Pacific Time today but I’m in negotiations with the Mayans to get the end of the world postponed to 3012. They want me to meet at their place for these final negotiations and to bring a sacrificial Republican with me. They are not thrilled with these Republicans. If I’m back at 1:00 p.m., you’ll know that my negotiations were successful and that the sacrificial Republican was acceptable.

Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures of wildlife that make the San Diego Zoo their home.

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!

Gimme some tongue, baby!

48 Replies

I try to go to SeaWorld, the Zoo, and the Safari Park each week, and I really don’t like to miss one of them. Thus I start early in the week so that if work gets in the way, I’ll have as many done as possible. Today’s trip was to the San Diego Zoo, and it was one of the best visits I’ve ever had. The animals seemed to know that I was coming today and were being very photogenic. And animals that are rarely seen — fishing cat, Andean condor, maned wolf — were out and about. Enjoy!