Wild Animal Park

Joan and I drove back to the Wild Animal Park of the San Diego Zoo. This time we stopped in at the Gorilla exhibit, just at feeding time.  The staff throw specific fruits and vegetables to individual gorillas and this one went against the wall to eat her stash.  We noticed the small baby nearby, but there didn't seem to be any relationship between the two.

As it turns out, she is the mother of this three month old Joey.

Usually, she has been carrying him in her hand for protection so we witnessed a rare time when she gave the small male a little freedom.

Here she is walking up an incline, and she just picked up the Joey in her hand and continued walking with him in her hand.

These next two pictures are of the Silverback Gorilla who is the father of our little lad.
 He is just resting against the wall in the shade with few of the other gorillas invading his space.  Would you?

This older gorilla is one of the oldest survivors in the world; she was born in 1957.  Like some old people, she rests in the shade with her mouth open...

Here's the Mom with her Joey again.  As you can see, he's sleeping on her arm.  What could be safer or more comfortable?

Nearby, I couldn't help making this photo of a fig tree with a fantastic root system with a nice red umbrella nearby for scale.

One of the bird ambassadors on display was this Milky Eyed Owl. He's one of the largest owls, standing almost two feet tall, and is native to the African Continent.

Meanwhile, back at the gorilla exhibit, baby Joey is awake on Mom's arm...

Isn't he just precious?

At one of the many ponds, these two were posing for me.

And lastly, a Pigmy Falcon.  he is full grown, about the size of a skinny robin, and is as lethal as his bigger relatives. What a cutie...

It was another warm day and I'm not sure why we haven't gone topless so far this year; maybe tomorrow...

The Accident and The Art of the Brick

First, the accident.  

We drove to Balboa Park, right next to the San Diego Zoo.  Parking is always difficult, but Joan's parking karma usually kicks in.

The first lot had no parking spots, the next had very few, but to get to a free spot, we drove by the scene below. 

A tall and majestic eucalyptus tree was felled by the high winds, less than 15 minutes before our arrival time. 

Had either of these two parking spot been vacant, and had we been a little earlier, things might be different...

As it turns out, no one was hurt except the tree that was killed on impact. Two cars were totalled: the SUV on the left of the picture below, and the van that is all but obliterated in the same picture. Notice that the van's back panel is seriously crumpled.

Next is a view from the tree's root system point of view. You can't even see the van.

A close-up of the victims.

The SUV's roof was flattened almost to seat level behind the front door, and there's no room for a passenger.

This is a view of the Van's passenger door. I gather there had been someone in the van: they got out through this door safely, and were not injured. [no ambulances were called] Note that the door is still opened.

Police and tree removal people arrived on the scene and some started rolling out police tape to isolate the scene while others were discussing and planning how to go about removing the tree, and cars.  

We continued on our way to the science museum where we wanted to see The Art of the Brick exhibit, a presentation of Nathan Sawaya's art, made completely out of Lego Bricks. He says that art is made using all kinds of materials, so why not Lego bricks.  Indeed, why not?

This is representing an icon of american art: the old couple with the fork.

Next is a rendition of the marvellous stained glass window of the Chartres Basilica in Paris. It was lit from behind and spread beautiful light throughout the area.

This is a representation of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo DaVinci, one of Joan's favourites.

This group shot of historic celebrities are almost life size and take your breath away.

This old vase is about two feet high and is made entirely of Lego bricks, as was everything else in the exhibit.

This was part of the artist studio being displayed; note that non coloured bricks were used to make everything you see, including the desk.

This next sculpture was titled "Hands". Amusing and very sad at the same time.

This is the ladder: when you need a boost, maybe you're part of the solution...

"Torso", also amusing and sad.

Here's Joan with one of the biggest statues. Your jaw drops when you enter this room.

And lastly, a California surfer: how appropriate for an art exhibit in San Diego

At the end of our day, we walked back to the car, past the scene of this morning's destruction. The cars are gone, the area is completely cleaned up, and one car is already parking there. 

Note the other spot, where the van was, it's actually a no parking zone. Will the owner get a ticket? Will insurance refuse to pay out? Will we ever know?

And here's what's left of the majestic tree that was here just this morning. Sad, that tree had likely many stories to tell.

What Joan and I take away is that one should be careful where one parks.  The vacant spot might be vacant for a reason.   ... or not.

Saturday is supposed to be our first 'shorts weather' day this year.  Maybe we'll even go topless...  Stay tuned.

Yesterday part 2

This will be the continuation of the photos made yesterday at the Wild Animal Park, as promised.

This Park, like the SD Zoo itself, is wonderfully landscaped.  Here's a short wall of bamboo to set the feeling...

This Park has a great display of Sumatran tigers, at least 6 of them.  We were lucky as many were quite active and it was a pleasure to see them in action.

This first one was practicing his winking...

A little closer next to this one, and you can see the intense look in his eyes.

Probably just wondering what the next meal might be?

Siblings tolerate each other much more than the adults: how about a claw in your face while you're trying to wash your feet?

Or maybe I'll just lie down and rest my paw on your head.   To protect you from sunburn of course...

In the distance was this dromedary sort of cresting a hill.

Near the top of this end of the Park is a good sized enclosure for the California Condors. It contains two retired female condors that have laid dozens of eggs successfully, and have helped rescue these gliders from extinction.  Unfortunately, no useful pictures since many photos were focused on the fence instead of the birds...  My bad.

This area has been populated with many native cactus, some of which now reach over 40 feet.

Looking out towards the Park, you can see the bamboos that I shot earlier; they're the light yellow/green diagonal slash in the middle of the photograph.

This next shot gives you a pretty good idea of just how big this animal park is.

A different view of the cactus.

There are quite of few of this type of tree in the area: quite tall, fairly spindly, and covered in thorns.

Back to our original wall of bamboo: it's the entrance to the condor area.

We were lucky to see these two two month old Cheetahs.  Unfortunately, they were behind glass and the reflections were pretty bad. Cute and gangly aren't they.

Nearby, a very slow moving turtle, about the size of a large soup plate.

Did you know that giraffes have a black tongue? It must be pretty tough too since this is licking fencing material...

Checking out what the tourists are eating...

Teasing the short ones with a tasty bit of bark.

The Park features a daily Cheetah run which is very well attended by patrons who stand two or three deep to look at a 5 second event.

I had the camera on motor drive, shooting about 5 frames per second. The previous frame shows nothing, the next frame showed a bit of tail.  That's it, that's all. They claim up to 70 mph. I have no doubt at all.

Maybe next time I'll shoot faster...

This is Peanut: a very small Armadillo from South America.  He's about mid size between the large and small bowling balls, and likely just as hard skinned.

He ran around quickly and had to be watched constantly by the attending trainer.

The trainer picked him up to show how well Peanut turns into a solid ball when threatened.
Peanut deserves his name and was very entertaining to watch.

Today, we went to the Science Museum where they had an excellent show of Lego Art. I hope to download and post later tonight.