Tuesday, 3 August 2010
It was another day of the
staycation. As lovely as the trip to
Turks & Caicos had been back in May 2010, it wasn’t the cheapest of things
to do. That’s one reason why we haven’t
gone back every year since then, and while it’ll be a couple years before I can
afford to do it again. I don’t mind a
staycation, spending time in the area, when I’m hosting visitors. But when I have a week off by myself, and no
one was available during the day to hang with me, it does kind of bum me
out. This wasn’t Arizona where I was exploring an unknown
area on my terms, but what do I do with myself in a productive manner for a
week. When the weather is nice, I sure
as hell don’t want to be indoors the entire time. I hadn’t planned any away trips for this week
also for the reason I didn’t want to be spending any cash that I thought I’d
need soon for something else.
I decided that a day-trip to San Antonio to see stuff I
hadn’t seen before. On previous trips
there, I’d done the Riverwalk boat ride, visited the Alamo, went up into the
Tower of the Americas ,
and even did a ghost tour. There was a
lot I hadn’t seen there, and I narrowed today’s target down to two reasonable
items. Here's the first.
I arrived
as early as possible in the morning (as the zoo opened at 9 am), I already
could tell it was going to be a hot day.
The zoo covers some 35 arces, so I thought I could get some good walking
mileage in today. I got the brochure
showing the attractions, and kind of figured the route I wanted to take (so I wouldn’t
be doing a lot of criss-crossing of areas).
And what were the criteria for my path?
Basically, what critters I wanted to see first.
The komodo dragon was first on my
list, as it’s nice to see a creature which would have no compunctions about
eating you in the least. The enclosure
had a transparent wall, so visitors would be safe from this critter whose
saliva is a pretty nasty disease carrier.
Nearby were some large constrictor
snakes, also something which sees humans as a meal if they can grab it. Reptiles and other cold-blooded critters
don’t tend to move around much to start with, so after watching them for a few
moments, I’d pretty much seen all I could on each one. After I’ve read the informational cards about
specific anaconda species, the snakes hadn’t moved an inch. Considering how thick they were, it’s hard to
imagine anything getting out of their hold.
One thing which is nice about the
San Antonio Zoo is most of the animals are not kept in cages, but open
enclosures which all them to roam about.
The designs of the enclosures are below the level of the visitors, in order
to prevent the critters from crawling out.
Other animals which tend to me a bit more on the resourceful side, like
the great cats, have a wire mesh around the enclosures, as they would figure
out a way to climb out. The enclosures
are also constructed in such a way to keep stupid tourists from easily climbing
into the animals’ habitats. You’re never
going to stop someone determined to take themselves out of the gene pool, but
you can minimize the risk of someone falling by accident.
As the heat of the day quickly
increased, even the activity level of the mammals tapered off. The elephants stood in the only available
shade they could. The rhinos laid down
on a bed of straw. You’d think these
guys would be use to this out on the African plains. At least the cheetah who was trying to stay
cool lifted his head when I was taking his picture. He didn’t look too happy. Welcome to summer in Texas , pal.
Where there’s one great cat, there
are other types. And there’s one type I
always want to see. Tigers. The only one who was visible for a photo
opportunity was smart enough to be resting in the shade. I identify myself with tigers to a certain
degree, and I would’ve been doing the same thing. Take it easy during the hottest part of the
day. The tiger was a Sumatran, so it was
about seven feet long, and over 300 pounds.
And that’s considered small in the tiger family.
Moving on from my favorite animal,
I passed hyenas, and kangraroos that were trying to deal with the heat, and a
turtle which seemed to be quite happy having a pool available to him. That also brought me up to the
alligators. I’d been to the alligator
farm in South Carolina
in the mid 1990s, so I was pretty familiar with these guys. Even though they (and their larger crocodile
cousins) will munch if people without a second thought, I find them more
fascinating than the komodo dragon in some respects. While the komodo was a species lucky enough
to survive when most of the mega-fauna died out after the Pleistocene,
crocodian species pre-date the dinosaurs.
These are living fossils from a time long ago, and have been able to
adapt with the changing times.
Going to the zoo is a learning
experience, and I did learn about a species I didn’t know, called the
tomistoma. This crocodian species is
native to Thailand , Malaysia , and Indonesia , and clocks in at over
sixteen feet. San Antonio Zoo is part of
a cooperative effort to protect this most-endangered of the crocodian species.
While I had the camera with me, I
didn’t need to take pictures of everything that I saw. I only usually take shots of the things I
find the most interesting. The primary
objective is to read the informational cards, and look at the animals so I can
enjoy the experience. Pictures are used
to retain some specific items. So when I
went through the section of the primates and area where the small reptiles
were, it was great to see them. One
thing that I did like about the area was a cat sculpture nestled among the
native Texas
plants and rocks.
I probably could’ve spent the
entire day at the zoo if it wasn’t so hot, but I had another objective to reach
today. Once I’d grabbed a quick bite to
eat, I headed across town to my next objective.
More information about these
places can be found at:
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