Hamilton Zoo

After a quiet weekend of rest, I am feeling almost completely better during the day, and if I could stop keeping myself (and J) up at night with my coughing, all would be well. Last night was better, so I'm optimistic. 

This is the last post of pictures from Hamilton. I know that it is not nearly as entertaining to see pictures of animals in zoos as it is to actually see them, so I've selected (mostly) animals that might be new to my northern hemisphere readers, in the hopes that that will make it interesting.

This is a Himalayan Monal. 

This is an Agouti. I got very excited when I read the sign, because it says that it has five toes in the front and three in the back. For some reason, I thought it meant on each foot, and I was excited to think that an animals could have 32 toes. Fortunately (or unfortunately), J was there to set me straight.

I realize that this will be no one's first introduction to red pandas, but this one gets a picture because they're my very favourite animal!

Also, thanks to Madagascar, you all know ring-tailed lemurs, but look how cute they are, hanging out with their tails.

This is a Fishing Cat. Neither J nor I had ever heard of it. They live in Southeast Asia. We think that its face looks a lot like a seal, which makes sense, given that they both hunt fish in the water. Must be a good shape for that.

This is a Cape Barren Goose, which lives on islands off the coast of Australia. This particular one desperately wanted to jump off this bank and into the water, but couldn't seem to convince itself that that was a good idea, so the poor thing paced back and forth for several minutes before running around the other way.

I love the soft, brown feathers, and then the bright red and black legs.

This is a Brolga, and I think that it's so cool, because it looks like it's wearing wrestling headgear, complete with the bulge for the ear protectors!

I think that these Painted Hunting Dogs were my favourite new discovery of the day. They are from Africa, and really should have been in the Lion King, because they are so beautiful and interesting-looking!

This baby American Bison must have known that we were from its homeland, because it followed us around as we walked by its enclosure, and stood and watched us as we left. So sweet!

This is one of the White Rhinos that the Hamilton Zoo is famous for. There are a shockingly small number left in the whole world, and this zoo has 7, so it's a big part of the global program to protect them. Interestingly, White Rhinos actually have black skin, but they constantly coat themselves in mud, so they always look very light tan, like the dirt around them.

This is a Ruru, a native New Zealand owl. (Sorry for the blurriness, but it was dark in their enclosure). The European settlers named them Morepork, because that's what their call sounds like. Well, it sounds like moh-pok, but that's how they say it here, given their aversion to 'r's. Anyway, you can often hear them in the evenings, and it's quite a nice little call.

This is a North Island Kaka, which is a native New Zealand parrot. These particular ones were very fun, because they will fly right up to people and land on them. Apparently, they like to rub themselves against women who are wearing perfume, and then rub the good smell all through their feathers. This means that they very rudely snubbed J and I. Had I known, I would have bought some perfume!

Well, there's your introduction to the Hamilton Zoo, and the conclusion of our trip to Hamilton. It was a good time!