Lincoln Park Zoo, July 2006

[Chicago Jake]

Well, I don't have any scorpions or javelina in my yard like some folks do, but I do have a pretty nice zoo a few blocks from my house. It is in the middle of Lincoln Park, and is cleverly called Lincoln Park Zoo. Its curator in the fifties and sixties was none other than Marlin Perkins himself, before he went on to become host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

Anway, I figured what better way to spend a beautiful July Sunday afternoon than to take my new camera out there for a test spin. Here are some of the wild beasts that I bagged with my new dSLR.....

The first creature to cross my path was a wild Rhinoceros!! He looked quite "horny", so I kept out of his way.






Next were a pair of camels. At first I thought they might have been recently parked by a couple of terrorists, but there were none to be found, so I just didn't worry about it. The camel on the left has a sly smile on her face. I think she just got humped.




After that, I came across several displays of fishies from various parts of the world. I didn't note where each of these groups were from, but I thought they looked cool. Toward the top middle of the first picture, one of them is giving me the eye.








This next beast is called, I believe, a Springbok. Obviously some sort of dear or gazelle or something from that family. They were very small and extremely cute. I don't think this photo does them justice. They reminded me of the reindeers in the "Rudolf" cartoon.




This giraffe was munching on his lunch. The wad of hay was about five feet long when he started, and he gradually munched it up until it was gone. Sort of like slurping a long strand of spaghetti up into your mouth when you were a kid.




I love the penguins. This was (I think) an Emperor Penguin. He was either asleep, or extremely mellow, because he never budged. It was quite dark in this enclosure, really tested the limits of my CMOS sensor (not to mention my hand-holding steadiness).



And this baby Rockhopper Penguin was just too cute not to capture.




And thus ended today's photo safari! Nobody killed, but plenty of trophies brought home to hang proundly on my hard drive........Jake

[Irish Stu]

Great pictures Jake. Looks like the new dSLR didn't disappoint. Also reminds me that our kids are long overdue a visit to our local zoo.

admin said:

This next beast is called, I believe, a Springbok. Obviously some sort of dear or gazelle or something from that family. They were very small and extremely cute. I don't think this photo does them justice. They reminded me of the reindeers in the "Rudolf" cartoon.

Springboks are a small gazelle from south and southwestern Africa. Springboks is also the name of the South African national rugby team... they are most certainly not 'very small and extremely cute'

Simon (hoping he doesn't sound like a know it all like Chuck)

[Chicago Jake]

Thanks for the info, Simon. I was just guessing. I'll have to look up what they're really called, or else mosey back to the zoo for a peek at the signage......Jake

Hmmmm.... might be a "Klipspringer." The zoo webpage lists that as one of their animals, and the photos at Wikipedia look about right.....

[innit Geezer]

Very nice pictures Jake. I've been taking some photos myself lately, here is a few.

We found this turtle on our driveway and Geri and I put him back in a pond not far away, our kids think we're "coo-coo-banana's" but a living creature is a living creature. He had a slight attitude that we didn't appreciate, oh well.





This frog I have taken a liking to. When he appears at night I give him water and pet his head, so far no warts. He shows up nearly every night. The camera is as close as I could get.



He seems to be posing for this shot, that crazy ol' reptile buddy of mine. It's his best angle.



This turkey is part of a flock that roams around my wooded backyard. He's actually in my neighbors yard in this picture. Last night when Geri and I were loving it up in the woods in between the golf course and our place one of these big hens came swooping down out of a tree. I didn't realize that turkeys spend the night high up in the oaks for safety. It scared me so much, I almost lost a perfectly good erct.......

[edie2u]

Great pictures Jake!! Very nice camera. Sounds like a fun day. I would never think about going to the Zoo. Hometown- San Diego Zoo...Florida-Gator Land.
Cool turkey...a couple of weeks ago (right before Jerry left) I heard a wild turkey gobbling in the wet lands behind us. Never did see it though!
Last night there was a kid swimming in the St. John's river that was attacked by an alligator. He remembered from discovery Channel to poke it in the eye, and ended up freeing himself. He's a lucky kid to have escaped with his life.

Gary don't ya just hate it when ya lose stuff...

Modified to add: I liked the baby penquin the best!!!!

[hardwork-DJ]

Great pictures, Jake and Gary!!!

The baby penguin is also my favorite. It looks as though it has goose bumps, the way its hair/fur/feathers are.

Gary, not to spoil your photo shoot...BUT THAT'S NO FROG!!! It happens to be an American Toad. You can see proof at this site. animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/roger_myers/DSCN1114a.jpg/view.html

DJ - also trying not to look like a DMC apprentice (but I have a pond in my yard and know what a frog looks like)

[innit Geezer]

Thanks D.J. I appreciate the information. We have birds of prey but I'm not sure what they are, perhaps Osprey.

[Chicago Jake]

I think animals are always the most interesting when we can see analogs to human features in them. Gary's toad is a good example; he looks like a grumpy old man.

Chuck Jones (the creator of Bugs Bunny, Daffy duck (why a no chicken?), etc.) said "It's easier to humanize an animal than to humanize a person." I think he was right.......Jake

[innit Geezer]

admin said:

Gary's toad is a good example; he looks like a grumpy old man.

Actually he's quite mellow and we were considering taking him to Hedo with us.

I won't tell him he's not a frog, he's proud of his heritage as he understands it. It might be the equivalent of me telling my Macho Italian Brooklyn friends they were taken in as church baby's and they're really from Sweden.

[Cherbunny]

Awesome pics, Jake!

I remember going to LP Zoo many, many times when I was a kid.

I'm glad you can take nite pics...the one I have of the owls isn't good enough.

Cher

[hardwork-DJ]

admin said:

I think animals are always the most interesting when we can see analogs to human features in them. Gary's toad is a good example; he looks like a grumpy old man.

Chuck Jones (the creator of Bugs Bunny, Daffy duck (why a no chicken?), etc.) said "It's easier to humanize an animal than to humanize a person." I think he was right.......Jake

I agree, Jake. If you look at a baby, laying with limbs splayed, they do resemble a frog/toad.

Modified to say the resemble a frog/toad laying on it's back. In fact, by oldest son never crawled on all fours, he did an army crawl and did look somewhat like a frog when he did. (does this statement make me a BAD mom?)

[edie2u]

Nope, just a an honest mom!!!

[hardwork-DJ]

Thanks Edie!

[Irish Stu]

samnsi said:

Great pictures Jake. Looks like the new dSLR didn't disappoint. Also reminds me that our kids are long overdue a visit to our local zoo

Well following Jake's example, this afternoon we took the girls to our local zoo in Colchester www.colchester-zoo.co.uk My parents used to take me there often when I was a kid and it's a pleasure to be doing the same a couple of times a year with my own children, though the zoo must now be twenty times the size it was back then and the animals enjoy much bigger and better enclosures. My camera travels most places with me, so like Jake I have a few pictures to post.

I'm wondering if this ZeeDonk is one of the ones that was born when I was a kid and saw as a foal at the zoo :





We reached the huge elephant enclosure just in time for feeding time and had to wait ages for the crowd to die down so we could get a good look at them :





A Gibbon :





The Giraffes and Rhinos seem to live quite happily together :





A can't remember what this chap is but he was living with the Zebras and the ZeeDonk and seemed perfectly happy with the arrangement :





A Pygmy Hippo :





One of many Piranhas :



Simon

[innit Geezer]

Beautiful pictures Simon, thanks for sharing. The primate looks preoccupied with something.

[Irish Stu]

Thanks Gary. I actually took a lot more pictures and some would have been better than these, but a lot of the animals are behind glass or perspex and the reflections and glare from the sun and lights spoiled them.

Simon

[Chicago Jake]

admin said:

This next beast is called, I believe, a Springbok. Obviously some sort of dear or gazelle or something from that family. They were very small and extremely cute. I don't think this photo does them justice. They reminded me of the reindeers in the "Rudolf" cartoon.

I went back to the zoo to see what the proper name of this beastie was. I was incorrect in my initial identification, it is inded a Klipspringer. I knew it had "spring" somewhere in its name!.......Jake

[♥ COVID-19♥]

Very cute. BTW, does the zoo allow visitors to breed with its inmates?

[Chicago Jake]

Sure, I'll get you an application form......Jake

[justheidi]

great zoo pics!!