African safari tour

My parents just came back from Cape Town and while watching their video, I heard the safari tour guide saying the collective word for zebras could be:
* A zeal of Zebra
* A herd of Zebra
* (And of course) A dazzle of zebra.. which is what the tour guide was using to describe that invoked me to research more.

A dazzle of zebra.. like this:

Was also talking about Giraffes being the "super model of the bush" because of their:
* sexy long legs
* graceful walk
* long eyelashes

Anyway because of them, I decided to pay the AA (African Adventure) station a visit. While I was happily taking the exhibits...

The cheetah suddenly came forward and showed me its back haha.

Oh what fascinates me is the coat.

Leopard

Cheetah - which is usually known as the fastest animal on earth. However their body temperature increases rapidly during a high-speed chase. Therefore, they must stop after running for about a minute or they will die from overheating. Geez, they are so hot-blooded.

King Cheetah.. I never knew there is this species. A spotted cheetah may be able to give birth to both king and spotted cubs.

The king cheetah is a rare mutation of cheetah characterized by a distinct pelt pattern. A recessive gene must be inherited from both parents in order for this pattern to appear- which is one reason why it is so rare.
- Source: Wiki

Panther - surprise! I bet you did not know that panther has spots haha. It is just too dark to be seen.

Seeing this ostrich reminds me of the JBP's Oscar.. and about the ostriches that my parents saw in Africa. Haha and the timing was great as he was trying to call its mate. See how blown up his neck is. The noise he make is a deep blowing sound.

More fun facts from here.
# The ostrich (Struthio camelus) is the largest bird living today.
# Ostriches are commercially farmed in the United States and many other countries. # Ostrich hide is made into fine leather and ostrich feathers are used for decoration and for cleaning materials.
# Ostriches are also valued for their red meat, which is often described as similar to beef, but with two-thirds less fat content.
# Although they cannot fly, ostriches can run at speeds of over 40 miles per hour. # An ostrich may run faster then a horse, but it can not run as far. After about half an hour it will slows down.
# Their powerful legs can deliver a formidable blow to predators.
# Ostriches do not stick their head in the sand, this is a myth. When an ostrich is cornered and has no other defense they will lay down on the ground, their head/neck will then blend in with the sand.

Oh and I caught the sloth "fighting" with the flying foxes haha. Notice its two toes, and the way its furs grow which is of different direction from the normal animals because sloth always hang itself upside down.

I also saw a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. Have you ever wonder how a fat and chubby caterpillar crystalise its innards to become a pupa. I wonder if I can do the same too to metamorphis and become a butterfly? Hmm...

Oh and FF got a newcomer. Welcome Strawberry Hermit Crab (Coenobita perlatus)!

Native to the Indo-Pacific region, specifically Madagascar, Japan, and Australia and in other areas around the Red Sea and the Pacific. However, they have spread to other Atlantic regions because humans have brought them there.

These hermit crabs are noted for their bright red colouring and white granual markings. They can be 18 mm in length.

Juveniles are white with red antennae, but as they grow and molt, their orange and red colouring appears. During their younger years, they are more of a pale red or orange colour. As adults, they are very red. Their eyestalks are the same colour as their body and are thick. Their walking legs are thick and strong for climbing.- Source: Wiki

My friend was saying the land hermit crab has white spots on the reddish legs, just like strawberry skin haha.


After lunch, I happened to see keeper Tony & Andre at the Manatee feeding corner. Yupz it is also the manatee feeding times. So went to peek at the baby manatee. Geez it grown so big. Keeper Tony was once again asking me lots of questions e.g. if I remember the 4th R - Replant. I just realised it was about a year ago when I did my attachment with him. How time flies.

Then he was saying even though we are in front of the manatee, he can talk to me about other animals e.g. if ants can think, or whether orang utan, gorilla and chimpanzee, can we really determine who are the cleverest? He went on to tell us a story of a clever Malaysian orang utan who observed the construction workers daily and ended up knowing how to operate most of the tools when she escaped out of her cage one day. Actually sometimes I think it is unfair for human to observe and then measure the animals according to human's standards. Characteristics e.g. who is the cleverest, who is the fastest, who is the prettiest.. is very subjective. If every human has his/her talents, so do every animals right?

By the way, I am still unable to find the animal hospital he mentioned hmm...


LP was telling me this is a king fisher. I rarely see this colouring, interesting!


The interesting aspect about this white-handed gibbon is its thumb is so much lower than the index finger thus giving it a very long hand structure. Oh and I'm really impressed that NS wants to capture all the poses of these monkeys. As I told LP, they can really come up with a 365days-calendar of monkey. Would be very impressive!


I asked LP to show me the baby pygmy hippo.. so cute haha.
I ended my day with this last shot.. tired already. I think I have been visiting the zoo too often lately haha.