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.
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