A Walk On The Wild Side
This weekend was a special treat for our family. It was Veteran’s Day at the Zoo. It is a day where the Nashville zoo lets active duty military and veterans and their whole family in to Walk on the Wild Side for free. We traveled there to enjoy the day as a family. There were dads, moms, and children of all ages. I saw grandmas and grandpas with walkers, canes, and wheelchairs. There was such excitement to see the creatures big and small. It was the most crowded I have ever seen it, but it was fun none the less.
I am sick, but still I enjoyed the day at the zoo as I always do. I loved the elephants the most. They remind me of my friends away in Africa, they remind me of everything that they gave up to go there and serve and how much that I miss them.
This cat was sleeping peacefully. They are found in the Himalayan foothills and down into China. They are so beautiful! Clouded Leopards get between 21 and 50 pounds full grown and live in the rain forests.
Smiling With The Caiman
This is a caiman and I thought that the eye looked like a marble. Isn’t it pretty? I think the detail of the skin is amazing in the photograph. It just sat just skimming the surface of the water and stared at me while I took the picture. I would not want to run into this in the wild at all. Reminds me of my sister watching the “River Monster” tv show. I think I shall never again go in a river just in case! 🙂
Here is a close up of the toothy smile. Say cheese! That is an American thing I think. For those of you not in the U.S., it is something your mother says when she is taking your picture to get you to smile I think that the idea is that when you say the “ee” part you smile and then mom gets a good picture.
No matter what, I would not want to get this close to this guy, how about you? He looks pretty serious, even though he is smiling!
Here is one last look at the caiman. I just had to do this one. Look at those eyes and those big teeth.
These flamingo were so pretty. Mrs. Cottage said that when we were little she took us to Sea World for our first and second birthday and that the flamingo were our favorite things and we cried when we had to leave them. Ha ha… well I didn’t cry this time, but I do appreciate their amazing beauty.
Here are some more flamingo. Mrs. Cottage said these ones look like the number 18. Will have to make a birthday card for someone who is 18. If I knew someone that was turning 18! Well, maybe some day I will know someone. 🙂
Hangin’ With The Big Apes
This next lady below is a gibbon. It was climbing and swinging on all of the trees. Her baby was up at the top of the trees about 70′ up in the air. I couldn’t get a good picture of the baby. But she wanted her picture taken, or at least it seemed that way to me.
The Gibbon are from the rain forest of South East Asia
0They live up to 40 years and weigh in up to 20 pounds. Gibbon can leap up to 25 feet.
The Galapagos Tortoise can get up to 400 pounds and up to 4 feet. They can live up to 100 years.
Hopping The Australian Way
Lovely of this guy (above) to let me snap a photo of him while he ate his lunch.
Next we have some kangaroo that they said will come up and let you touch them but we came at nap time so they were not in a cuddly mood (sadly) as I would have so loved to hold or touch one. 🙂 This reminded me of our friends in Australia and made us smile. **hello friends**
Another meerkat!
These are some Saddle Billed Stork. So, if you see one on your roof with a package…
You will be able to spot them.
This is the best photo I could manage of this white tiger. He was way at the back but he was beautiful. White Tigers get up to 540 pounds and up to 10 feet long. The white fur occurring on a tiger happens in only perhaps 1 in 10,000 wild tiger births.
Same with this one. This cougar was at the top of the
cliff on the rocks sleeping. Shhhhh, don’t wake it. It gets grumpy when you wake it. They get about three feet tall at the shoulder when full grown and are 5 to 9 feet from head to tail. That is a big cat. They can not roar like a lion but do purr like a house cat.
Walking Down Under On The Wild Side
This bird is a cassowary. It comes from Northern Australia and New Guinea. It has a funny horn like thing on the head and beautiful coloring. They live up to 40 years. These are flightless birds and they live in rain forests. I liked the way it looked. These birds can cause serious injury or even death to humans and dogs and are often called the world’s most dangerous bird. They are related to the ostrich, emu and the kiwi.
The day was beautiful and in the sixties. The leaves were all shades of beautiful, and we couldn’t get enough of the beauty!
This little goat was so adorable. It looked like it belonged at the cottage and needed to come home with me.
Walking With The Elephants
This was just amazing and was my favorite part of the day. I just love these guys. So amazing, so powerful!
It was swinging his trunk back and forth, like it was waving. The light was beautiful and soft and the breeze was blowing. Such a beautiful animal and a great day!
This guy looks ready for a nice nap. I am ready for one too!
Until our next adventure… good
- Mile Long Yard Sale
- 400 Mile Long Yard Sale
- Hiking Stinging Fork Waterfall
- Exploring Piney Falls Waterfall
- Nashville Zoo
- Walk On The Wild Side
- Exploring Ozone Falls
- Fall Creek Falls
- Burgess Falls
- Belle Meade Plantation
- Carnton Plantation
- Cragfont Plantation
- Sam Davis Home
- Grassmere Historic Farm
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