Christmas at the Zoo (Part Deux)

I promised more photos of my recent trip (last Friday) to the Indianapolis Zoo for its special Christmas evening celebration.  Apologies if the quality is not up to snuff, but Scowl-Face and night digital photography are two ships passing in the night.  More like sinking, actually.

Always Drawing an Audience

One of our first stops at the zoo was the waddleskiffer exhibit.  These marvelous winged wonders are terrific swimmers.  They asked me to speak to their group as guest of honor.  I told them to keep chasing those elusive swimming dinners and to get their fancy tuxedos cleaned and pressed at least monthly.

Moulting Season Already?

The waddleskiffer habitat was some rocks (or reasonable facsimiles thereof) and really cold water.  (Salt water?  I didn't test it myself, and my minions declined rather pointedly.  Good help is hard to find these days.) Not a television in sight, much to the disappointment of all Monty Python fans everywhere.  (Of course, we wouldn't want proper waddleskiffers to explode; just television comedy prop waddleskiffers.)

We saw lots of swimming dinners, including a moray eel, which definitely was not on my dinner list, although I would probably have been on his!  Or hers.  I didn't stick around to ask any personal questions.

Do NOT Bigify; This Moray is Big Enough Already

The moray eel would lunge out from inside a crevice, which apparently startled some of the onlookers.  We heard this high-pitched squealing and wondered what young child had been startled out of his or her wits. Turning around, we discovered Scowl-Face huddled behind a waste receptacle.  (Okay, he dove into the receptacle.)  That could explain the utterly out-of-focus picture.

"Come Closer to My Crevice, My Little Pretties . . ."

Two words, Scowl-Face:  Auto-Flash.  Just saying.  (Okay, that's one word, but hyphenated, so it's nearly two.)

Next we visited the petting shark tank.  Yes, humans were reaching into the water and petting the sharks. Not moi, I can assure you.  Mama Cat raised no imbeciles in my feline family.

That's Yours Truly on the Rock, Safe and Sound

(Tough Break, Little Sharky)

At the Shark Petting Exhibit,

Count Your Fingers Afterwards

I'm joking about the sharks biting folks.  They're quite docile if you don't touch their heads, fins, or tails, and you use only two fingers to pet them. The large ones are at least twice my size or more, so I'll just keep my paws to moiself.

"Flat" Cauli III with the Lady With the Red Hair

(a "Desert Rose," For Sure)

After all these aquatic critters, I decided that we should get someplace warm and dry.  The desert exhibition seemed like a safe option.  I hadn't bargained on slitherdarts.

Watch for the exciting conclusion in my next blog posting!

How's That For a Cliffhanger?

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Zoo Holiday News Beat

P.S.  If you haven't read Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater, then you should treat yourselves to a wonderful children's story. It is available in our Evergreen Indiana online catalog.