Safari! Lions, tigers and bears!

A few of us went to the zoological park to check out some animals.  We also did a wildlife "safari" of sorts, which ended up being a lot of fun.  We got up super early and were the first ones there, on the first "jeep" and up front.  Of course my favorite of all time were the big cats, I love the bengal tiger.  They remind me of my tabby kitty back home.  My excitement was tempered when I learned that fewer than 1200 of the magnificent animals still live in the wild in India.  Obviously this is connected to so many larger social and environmental issues than I could possibly mention here.  Like many of you, I have mixed feelings about wild animals kept in places with fences, but it was a very enriching as well as entertaining experiance.  I was also happy to get away from the city.

When I have more time, I will post a photo blog of just crazy and funny signs.  Since I don't know Kannada, I don't know what is written here.  To me it looks like animals are conspiring to cage humans and take over the world.  I think it was something not putting hands and legs through bars.

Our driver was awesome and helped take photos etc.

Crocodile hanging out on her rock.

I almost thought I was looking at some kind of caribou and thinking how miserable they must be in the tropics, I later looked it up and found that these are some ungulates native to south India.

Close-up of one with bird

These are Indian sloth bears, they are nocturnal and prefer to lay around during the day (hence the name), after sunset they eat bugs and termites all night long.

How cute is that, I guess they are among the most unkempt looking bears in the world.

I could not contain my excitement.

A pride of lionesses

Finally, the bengal tiger, he was very elusive and not interested in posing for me.  He was more interested in the white bengal on the other side of the sentry walk.

Someone is going to loose an arm

She was so beautiful, not wanting to pose for a picture though.

I think she gave me a wink just as we were driving away.

Of course no Indian park would be complete without the Asian elephant

It did not take long for me to be talked into riding, unfortunately no photos (camera ran out of battery)

This might make me unpopular but I really hate monkeys.  I just saw "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" this weekend so I know what they are thinking. Anyway, monkeys are kinda like rats here and they are mean, crafty and will steal all your money and take over the planet.

This zookeeper's job is to keep monkeys away with his sling shot.  I want his job.  The monkeys eat the other animals food. I saw a lot of overweight and even obese monkeys.  I bet I'm going to have bad dreams about overweight mokeys tonight.  Did I mention that I don't like monkeys?

Here are some snakes in a tree, pythons I think.  I want to watch a Samuel L. Jackson movie now.

We got there early in the morning before the huge Indian crowds and the oppressive heat.

Butterfly avery (I forgot what it is called)

The one at the bottom is a "Deaths Head Hawk Moth" the same one depicted in "Silence of the Lambs"  I did not see a live one.

Ok, now school really starts for me tomorrow, summer break over, I must work this week.