Category: animals

Posted in animals, zoo

Baby elephants

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We usually go to a zoo when we visit the grandchildren in Dallas. The Dallas Zoo isn’t far but the Fort Worth zoo is an hour’s drive. Since it had been a few years, we made the longer drive with a van full of unusually quiet grands occupied with their books.

The zoo’s entrance announced the newest additions: a baby elephant! Since he was only a month old, he was only on exhibit for a few hours each day. So we headed there first.

It was worth the drive. Sam Houston was born on April 1, weighing in at 285 pounds. He didn’t wander far from his mama, Bluebell, pausing frequently to nurse. 8 month-old Lady Bird was wandering around with her parent, too.

Elephant Springs is a fantastic zoo habitat. These endangered Asian elephants have a safe place to live, wander, and reproduce. I could just stand and watch them for a long, long time.

Posted in animals, garden

Bunnies

Posted on by William Douthwaite

As I weeded around the palm tree in the front garden, I was startled by two small creatures who darted out from under some ornamental grass. At first, I thought they were rats. My neighbor had rats. Now they’re in my yard?

They ran out from under the grass up onto the front porch, where I saw they were baby bunnies! No bigger than an avocado, they scurried off to hide behind a vertical welcome sign by the front door. I couldn’t seem them trembling, but I know they were scared to death.

Mama bunny often scurries out of the front gardens when I come out the front door. She’s been getting braver, working her way further in to plants she finds appetizing. I saw her today, by the fence gate. Had she taught her little ones where to go, what to eat, and how to run and hide?

Posted in animals, dogs

Turtling

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We’ve got a turtle in our neighborhood. Sometimes he camps out in our driveway, driving our little dog nuts. Other times we find him in the middle of the street, just daring the traffic to drive by. This morning, our big dog encountered the turtle!

Yeah, he quickly shut himself up tight as a drum when that big nose came in for a sniff. The big girl was fascinated by this elusive playmate who wouldn’t come out to play. It wasn’t until we were thirty feet away that the turtle poked his head out to see what was going on. We watched from a distance as he moved surprisingly fast into the wooded lot just up the street.

Why are turtles so fascinating to dogs and to people? They are easy to catch, but hard to get to know. They are both secluded and right there in the middle of the street. They are always at home, their houses on their back. But they withdraw when you try to get to know them.

Who else carries their home with them? Snails, hermit crabs (borrowed homes), and full time RV-ers. Backpackers on the Appalachian Trail? Cross-country bike riders? I find that self-sufficiency fascinating.

We used to have a hybrid camper trailer. The ends folded out into the tent-like sleeping areas. If we didn’t want to open up the ends because of a storm, we could just shut ourselves in safe and secure, a technique called “turtling.”

I’ll bet we all have moments when we want to “turtle.” Just pull our heads, hands, and feet in and shut ourselves off from the world.

Just for a moment.

Posted in animals, zoo

Sloths have come to our corner of Florida

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by David Gomez on Unsplash

Judging by the highway billboards, sloths are one of the biggest new attractions in central and northeast Florida. The Jacksonville Zoo spent a lot of money marketing their new sloth exhibit. The Daytona Aquarium and Rainforest Adventure features a picture of a sloth on their sign. The Orlando Science Center houses a sloth in their small rainforest habitat. If you’re a sloth, there’s a good chance you can find a job in our area.

We became sloth fans after watching Flash at the Department of Mammal Vehicles in the animated movie Zootopia. We were excited by the opportunity to visit all these new exhibits.

We did get to see the sloths, but we were underwhelmed. At the Jacksonville Zoo, the two sloths had moved into a monkey display not far from the penguins. Since they weren’t out of their shelters, we didn’t see them. At the Orlando Science Center, the sloth was just a ball of fur up in a tree. And at the aquarium, the sloth was just visible on a ledge in a very dark enclosure.

I don’t know why I expected more. That’s what sloths do. They aren’t very active. They “hang around.” Nice work if you can get it.