This is Nate, the assistant curator and self-proclaimed snake guy, showing us the WRONG sort of tortoise to choose as a pet! Apparently, these African ones get pretty huge and live for over a hundred years.
He searched out the friendliest of all desert tortoises, so that the kids could feel the skin between the shell plates.
We were even allowed to climb inside the exhibit with the largest tortoises!
Learning all about a venomous Mexican Beaded Lizard. And then, they pet it on the tail!
Lauren's best moment of the day, when she was able to hold a bearded dragon on her head! Nate was telling us how it is the BEST reptile to have for a pet, and she instantly whipped around with her biggest doe eyes locked right on me. It's a good thing this one wasn't available for adoption! ;)
Petting a monitor...
The pens are all pretty close together, and we were standing in between them listening to the guide tells us about monitors, I hear a fence behind me jarr a bit and turned around to have this friendly face staring me down. Some sort of giant iguana, I believe.
I left out pictures of the alligators and crocodiles - because honestly, they were a bit unnerving! The guide started the time by telling us the biggest difference between alligators and crocodiles - no, not the snout shape - but that crocs recognize people as food! Then he showed us how fast a croc can move from 40 feet away, just by tapping the water with a stick. That croc was there in an instant with it's jaws wide open! He also showed us another type of croc that can jump six feet and is super fast. Anyway, I was far too busy keeping tabs on my little wandering Jaelyn in that area than I was about taking pictures! =)
We also saw a room full of venomous snakes (no pictures there either, Jaelyn had gotten mud on her feet and was seriously distressed over it, so I'm not sure I looked at a single snake in that room -- but there were a lot of them!), and finally the room of non-venomous snakes. So my last shot is Jaelyn with the giant one of her favorite color, yellow!
It was really a fantastic field trip, filled with lots of great information! The older girls really retained a lot of facts, party because our guide used a lot of humor! They only show the property by appointment, but if you ever have a chance to go - it is highly recommended by these four girls!
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1 comment:
Looks like great fun, Claire! If Lauren is looking for a pet Bearded Dragon we have plenty down here... Of course, we also have plenty of those crocs and venomous snakes :-)
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