My Life, my photography, my passions
Meet Tom, like any typical cat he’s stoic, independent, and does that funny little thing with his paws when he purrs and is happy. I was being lazy and randomly pointing the camera at various locations while we were on the couch. He didn’t like the lens right up in his face, kept batting at it, so kitty paws is what we have today.
So why did the snapping turtle cross the road? Why does any turtle cross the road for that matter? I don’t know, but he obviously didn’t do it so I could carry him across to the other side. If he did he wouldn’t have been so ungrateful to hiss and snap at me while I saved his shell from tires of a car. He was heavy guy, about 25 lbs and a good 18 inches in length. Didn’t want a car to hit him, so I carried him in the direction he was going, north across Holdredge Street east of Lincoln Nebraska.
There is an old wives tale that if you see turtles crossing the road it’s going to rain. (Within 12 hours of this picture it did rain by the way. ) This theory is true, or is at least true from my standpoint. In 1988 I was working a summer internship job for SafeGuard cattle dewormer in Oklahoma. We were in the middle of a heatwave and drought. Ranchers were asking me if I was bringing rain with me when I came to visit. I always had bad news for them.
Then one morning I started noticing the turtles crossing the highway, being familiar with the old wives tale I started counting them. I stopped at 73. When I stopped at the Farmers Co-op they asked the question, “Did you bring any rain?” I jokingly told them “Turtles were all over the road it’s going to pour buckets.”
That afternoon as I drove past the co-op again it WAS pouring buckets and I honked my horn as they waved from the doorway.
The next week when I stopped by they asked the same question. I could only shake my head and say, “Sorry, this morning I saw a tarantula cross the road, it’s going to be dry for a while”
So why do turtles cross the road? Probably for many reasons, it’s breeding season, it just rained and their homes got flooded and they have moved to higher ground. Or, like another blogger thought, it’s going to rain.
My first award, or recognition, members of the Facebook 365 Day Photo Challenge voted my “Strutting Peaccok” the photo of the week! Yeah!
Peacock images have been overdone as well as roses, but what photography collection is complete without a strutting peacock. I did bump this up a little with posterizing in Photoshop and a green tint in the black and white layer. The effect I was trying to achieve was to get the “eyes” to pop and I believe it was achieved. Those eyes would get my attention
By the way, this male peacock did catch the female after a little chase. Just another photo from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, love that place.
This wide eyed lemur is part of the Madagascar exhibit at the Henry Doorly Zoo, yes I went back a week later. Did get some different photos, but I was pickier this time. The walk through outdoor exhibit allows you to pass through a double door entry and walk amongst a troop of ruffed lemurs.
It is 6,700 square foot netted exhibit with man-made trees linked by vines and allows visitors to photograph these animals without a net or glass obstruction.They even jump on the walkways and get up close and personal. It’s only open Fridays-Sundays and so I didn’t see it the week before. I think it’s probably due to staffing as a keeper is in attendance at all times to keep the people and lemurs from touching each other. They are very friendly and very unafraid.
The keepers had just gone into the exhibit and stuck several willow branches into the ground, this troupe of ring-tailed lemurs loved the treat.
Whenever we have friends visit Omaha for the first time we always take them to the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo. There are many parts of the zoo that is my favorite but one of the better exhibits is the Hubbard Gorilla Valley which opened in 2004. Here it is almost like the people are on display instead of the gorillas. One particular silverback male loves toddlers and it’s not unusual for him to bound over to the window and stare at them. He did that with my daughter when she was little in the previous gorilla building.
There are very large outdoor valley areas which encompasses about two acres of habitat which curve and zigzag around the exhibits and make it feel as though it’s much larger. Over twenty gorillas of different ages share a multitude of living areas and many visitors have their favorites.
As I said it is not uncommon to see the gorillas interact, tease or “mess” with visitors. I’ve just been sitting on the ledge with my back turned and one of the males will just come up and bang on the glass and run away, just like up above. I think he just likes seeing the reaction of people, I know I jumped! Just search on YouTube for Omaha gorilla and you will find hundreds of videos of our gorillas “interacting” with the public.
The design of the enclosures is meant for human and gorilla interaction and many people feel the Omaha Zoo has the best gorilla exhibit in the United States. In 2014 they were awarded the Best Zoo in the World by Trip Advisor. In Nebraska this is old news, but when CNN and the travel channel highlight our city and zoo it’s an even bigger source of pride.
So in April of 2015 when the gorilla cracked the glass, during one of his stunts, it shouldn’t be any surprise to regular visitors.
But it surprised the country and the below video has gone viral on Facebook and other social media outlets. The activity of this gorilla is nothing new. Many people come to the zoo to interact with him. People who have never visited the Henry Doorly Zoo are criticizing how cruel it is to have gorillas in captivity, or even the ignorance of the little girl and her parents.
It is scary, especially to little kids. I have often cautioned parents with little kids that the gorillas exhibit this behavior and might lunge at the windows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdJVc1JxGhI
As you can see from the video and the photos the gorilla enclosures are very large. I have met with the keepers and veterinarians at the zoo and brought visiting veterinarians to the zoo. The enrichment program is very intense. Not only do they have a different activity every day, but they don’t repeat an enrichment program more than once a month. Some of the enrichment activities include pumpkins, phone books, boxes, perfume, and other manipulatives..
The gorillas are put together in social groups in environment with trees, boulders, logs and an enrichment program that is meant to challenge them on a daily basis. The natural habitat of Lowland gorillas is disappearing at a tremendous rate and Omaha is one of the premier world wide reproductive facilities in the world that houses the largest gorilla sperm banks.
I just love our zoo, and I think we’re going back sometime soon to take some other friends. It’s definitely a destination you can’t miss when you come to Omaha. Almost every year there is a new attraction and even though the Omaha Zoo is great now it’s just going to get better with an upcoming $175 million dollar Master Plan expansion planned in the next 15 years.
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