December 2 -- zoo -- part 2

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There's a warm tropical sort of building, with lizards and other warm-weather critters.  I had that building almost all to myself, too.

This guy was extremely interested in me, and kept moving as though to get a better look.  Had he not been in one of those entirely-enclosed, people-can-look-through-the-one-wall-that-is-plexiglas habitats, I might have decided he(?) was begging for food.  He kept watching me, moving, watching me, moving, as long as I stood there.  (See his quirky sidekick, at right?  :-)  )

Probably 2-3' long, including that long tail.

Here's something I'd never seen before.  Tri-colored squirrels.  They were a beautiful rusty brown on their bellies, black on their backs, with a variable-width band of cream color all around between the brown and the black.  There are two here.  One is mostly visible, if not very clear, hanging upside down in the bottom half of the image.  The other is visible only as left feet (front and back) and part of a tail.  It's right-side up, and in the upper left quadrant.

They were squirrel-sized, and like our squirrels, they moved fast.  And often.  They spent a lot more time upside down than our squirrels do.  I don't think I've ever seen a Michigan squirrel (fox, red, or ground) upside down except by accident.  Sometimes our squirrels almost fall, and end up upside down on a wire or a small branch.  They right themselves as soon as they can, in my experience..

These guys seemed to be as happy to be upside down as right-side up.  In this next shot, they are both hanging head down, vertically.  (The camera, unfortunately, decided to focus on the dirty window between us and the squirrels, rather than on the squirrels........)

Very jungly/botanical-gardeny in there.

Bromeliad!

Fish tanks in this building, too.  Piranha.

Horseshoe crab.  I'm not sure I've ever seen one of these alive and in captivity.  I've seen dead ones on the beach...........

Copper-banded butterfly fish.

This fish, like that lizard at the top of this post, kept coming by, watching.

I kept trying, and eventually got a sharp pic!

This is the best I was able to do with this sea horse.

A much bigger lizard.  This is a rhinoceros iguana.  I'll bet it was 4-5' long.

Somebody's been making marks in the sand.

Komodo dragon.  A pretty good-sized one.  I'll bet it was over 6' long.  Maybe over 8' long.

Back outside.  It was so nice outside that it had been rather oppressively warm in that tropical building.

I've seen lots of peacocks in zoos, but this is the first time one walked right up to me.  (I'm pretty sure these guys do get fed by the marks.)

I mean "right up to me" -- so close I couldn't fit him in the frame.

He decided I was useless, and walked on.  You can see part of his girlfriend, top right.

The giraffes were out!  I was surprised.  If anyone was going to be hurt by a fall, I'd think it would be a giraffe.............

But it was SO nice out, after a weirdly cold weekend, so I can see why they wanted to be out, despite the snow.  Some of the snow had been removed from their enclosure, but I still wondered about their safety.  I hope they were fine and no one got hurt.

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