On Thursday, I got a chance to go to
Taronga Zoo for the first time ever. Taronga is a world-famous zoo, just a ferry's ride away from Sydney, and it very much deserves its reputation. It not only has amazing animals but amazing views, as I joked to Wes when we were walking around:
Come to Taronga Zoo. See our fabulous animals and city views.
It really was a great experience and I'd love to go back in the future.
Now, stick close to me, this is going to be a long one in multiple pieces! Be warned, there are a
LOT of photos!
The first exhibit we came to was the Alligator Swamp. Go figure. I go to a zoo halfway around the world and find an animal from my back yard. For a bit of added flavor (or maybe just by accident, since these guys were running loose all over the zoo), there were a few local lizards hanging out with the gator on his heated basking pad.
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| Sorry for the bars. Whoops. |
Next, we found the Koala Walkabout, an enclosure with a path winding up and around the outside. From the boardwalk, you can easily view all of the koalas, no matter where they happen to be, by simply walking around.
I quickly discovered in the Walkabout that the zoom lens Wes is borrowing from his dad would be very handy, indeed. Wes helped me swap out the kit lens for the higher power zoom and I gladly started snapping away!
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The one on the left scared the eucalyptus
clean out of the one on the right by leaping
from branch to branch over his head. |
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They're so cute! And "right bastards" when provoked,
as Wes loves to remind me. |
After we made it through the Walkabout (along with a dozen or so schoolboys), we made our way out to the reptile house where the komodo dragon sat as sentry, enjoying what little sun he could get. There were also a wide variety of birds scattered throughout the entire zoo, including near the komodo dragon's enclosure. I took a few photos of our feathered friends and Wes and I moved on to the reptile house.
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I believe this was a species of native mannikin. Wes and I had
a laugh over the fact that half of the birds kept in cages had wild
counterparts swooping freely through the rest of the zoo. |
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Sadly, I couldn't quite make the bars vanish from in front of these
lovely, red-tailed black cockatoos. |
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Remember what I said about great views?
Check out the harbour! |
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| That is one. Mean. Mouth. Eek. |
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| SO MEAN you get a close-up! |
In the reptile house, we saw a wide variety of snakes, lizards, monitors and turtles. The majority of them were native species, but there were quite a few imports, as well. As Wes later pointed out, I really like reptiles. They're just really neat animals (even if they generally don't do a whole lot) and they make for very cool photos. Let's face it, I'm a texture freak.
I later found out from a friend of Wes' (thanks Mike!) that Taronga Zoo's reptile house is so awesome because they have one of the best herpetology departments in the world. So be prepared, there are a lot of scaly photos ahead!
And slimey ones, too.
There were also a number of amphibians in the reptile house, which is pretty much always how it goes, since they don't much have any place else to go. Sadly, I don't remember most of the species we saw, so just enjoy the photos for now, yeah?
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| Reticulated Python |
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| Sailfin Lizard |
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Another sailfin, who kept waving at us. We're not sure why, but
he stopped when other people got near. |
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| Spot the frogs if you can! |
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| Eyelash Viper |
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| Tai Pan |
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| "Why isn't he moving?" |
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| "Because he's an Egyptian Cobra and they do whatever they want." |
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| Eastern Diamondback; as Wes said "one of mine" |
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| Another "one of mine", a Gila Monster |
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| Aren't they cute when they're napping? |
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| I think this was a Diamond Python |
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| Starshell Tortoise |
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| Chameleon! I can't remember what kind. |
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Green Anaconda; his body was wound through the entire tank under
the surface of the water |
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| Green Iguana; Iguana iguana |
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| Eastern Snake-neck Turtles |
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| Red-bellied Black Snake |
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| Rhinoceros Iguana |
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| We veeeeeeeery nearly missed this little guy. |
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Fierce Snake or Inland Tai Pan; these snakes are the most venmous
land snakes known. They carry enough venom to kill 250,000 mice |
When we came out of the reptile house at the end, we found that the sun had come out in the open more fully and had drawn the komodo dragon into basking mode. He was just chilling out (or heating up, as it were) and perfectly content to relax.
