Animal Magnetism

Just out to "Monkey" around * YES, I know
my "friend" is not a Money. 

Sunday was a day when not much was needing to be done around here at Muse Cottage.  The Delta breeze had died off a bit, and the temperatures were rising steadily. The day had started off with hubby making some apple turnovers, which we enjoyed out on the back patio under the shade of the cabana, he with his juice and myself with of course a cup of Irish Breakfast tea. Our middle daughter joined us, with her coffee in hand ( not before "borrowing" some milk from us) and she and my hubby chatted while I just sat quietly and let my mind drift to other musings while I sipped from my extra large tea cup, being careful not to scorch my tongue. After a time, and breakfast being long devoured, we each retired back inside; our daughter to her cottage, and we to ours. Then came the question as to "what now?" and after a discussion of possibilities we decided on the local zoo. It was close, and if I suddenly did not feel well enough to continue the day, coming back home would not be a problem or involve a long drive in Sunday traffic.  I got dressed and even put forth the effort to put on a touch of make up, a spot of cologne ( upon urging from an online friend to do so this weekend, but that is another story), and my pearl earrings.. oh and my Unicorn necklace, a recent gift from my youngest.  Water bottles and snack bars packed we were on our way.

After a short time on the road we arrived at the Zoo, and upon finally finding a place to park, standing in line for about fifteen minutes, we entered the gates. I adore animals of all kinds, I truly do not discriminate... of course I do have my favorites and like to visit those first, but just being among animals and birds make me rather giddy and child like. Everywhere you look there is something or some creature to make me smile and amuse me, producing loud giggles and nearly to the point of doing the "happy" clap. If it were not so crowded I assure you I would be riding the carousel, the mini train and sticking my head through each hole of the photo ops that are offered about the grounds. Our zoo is not so big that there is a lot to see, and it is a bit repetitive, but enjoyable all the same. Sadly, that being said, with the time of the day that we finally reached our destination, many of the animals were napping, hiding, or simply nowhere to be seen. I therefore did not even get to see the Orangutans, one of my all time favorites, as are all the primates, in the stead having to settle for a the photo above. There were a few animals and birds still out and visible,  and thank goodness hubby had his phone, as in my rush to get dressed and out the door, I had not put my camera into my bag... so he did the best he could to snap a few photos and sent them to me via email so that I might share them with you within this post. I am sure you have all seen these creatures many a time in your own visits to a zoo or wild animal park, and again some of these photos are not the best, and they are just the highlights, and the ones that turned out.... but I hope you enjoy them all the same. 

Flamingos... They are stinky as all get out, and on Sunday quite loud as well. But then it was mating season. See if you can spot the egg on the mounds that look like mini volcanoes!
Those are the nests! Flamingos are a type of wading bird in the genus Phoenicopterus, the only genus in the family Phoenicopteridae. There are four flamingo species in the Americas and two species in the Old World. Wikipedia

Azure Winged Magpies 

The Azure-winged Magpie is a bird in the crow family. It is 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the European Magpie but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It belongs to the monotypical genus Cyanopica. Wikipedia

Grevy's Zebra ..The Grévy's zebra, also known as the imperial zebra, is the largest extant wild equid and the largest and most endangered of the three species of zebra, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra.Wikipedia

I am not sure if these are the Masai or the Reticulated Giraffes, which are the two varieties at the zoo, either way they are wonderful, peaceful creatures to watch. Here they are watching their handler work  on the other side of the fence... after this photo was taken, two of the closest ones to us began kissing and nuzzling, it was so very tender and sweet! 

Can you guess this creature? He or she is busy reaching for
a snack that is on top of the cage. 

It is the Mongoose Lemure. There was a baby in the same cage, but never posed
in a location that we could capture it on the camera, but trust me it was
sooooo adorable, but then most baby animals are! The mongoose lemur is a lemur ranging from 12 to 18 inches long plus a tail of 16 to 25 inches. The mongoose lemur lives in dry deciduous forests on the island of Madagascar as well as in the humid forests on the islands of the Comoros. Wikipedia

Here is a mama Black and White Ruffed Lemure, she has a whole litter or babies, and we stood for sometime cooing and ooohhing over them as they stretched, played and ate. hard to tell in this shot where one begins and another one ends they are so tangled. 

Here is a baby all stretched out... and a Mama in the distance cleaning another. The black-and-white ruffed lemur is the more endangered of the two species of ruffed lemurs, both of which are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Wikipedia

He/she would just plum tuckered out!!

This is the North American Otter; I have actually seen these fellows in the wild, and they are so very fun to watch... but again caught at nap time and not play time we settled for this shot. The North American river otter, also known as the northern river otter or the common otter, is a semiaquatic mammal endemic to the North American continent found in and along its waterways and coasts.Wikipedia

Not the best shot. Like many that day, between the crowds, using my husbands
phone and him not being able to find the zoom a lot of the times, this was the best
we could get of this Jaguar getting a long cool drink from the pond in his cage. The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Wikipedia

There was so many photos of animals I had to delete, simply not clear enough to enjoy. One was of a baby Sumatran Tiger ... napping right on the other side of a glass panel with his mama keeping watch, but the glare and reflections of children standing in front of the glass, well you just could not see much of the actual tiger. If you would like to learn more about the animals myself and my husband saw, including many that are not pictured here, click this link.... Sacramento Zoo , then click on each photo on the page.  I hope you enjoyed the little peek I gave you of how I spent my Sunday afternoon.