What Mother Nature Hath Wrought

 

Jubilation! Today our senses are filled with nature in its finest form. Even though our trips through Wildlife Safari are old hat for anyone who follows us, each trip offers a different peek into a wild animal's life. I grasp any opportunity to explore the world of exotic creatures to gain an understanding and enjoy their existence.  

Mallory joined us today for the excursion. I was driving, so I handed Mallory my camera to snap as many photos as she saw fit. She did so and did it well, I might add. As you've seen before should you follow our posts, some fences often become frustrating, but we do our best. Actually, I am happy the fences are there, as we are dealing with wild animals. 

All week I had read that red lemurs were added to the park residents, along with a couple of owls and a new hippo. We arrived at the gate and were greeted with, "Please take care. The rhinos and giraffes are getting close to cars lately." 

Now, I do love and appreciate when the animals come close enough for us to fully enjoy their presence. However, a rhino? Um, they can be quite intimidating when up close. My daughters and I had one trip through the park where they came within a two-foot distance. There were two of them that day, hanging out, and walking near cars. It was both exhilarating and frightening at the same time. All of us tightened up and kept our glance straight ahead to not make direct eye contact. We did not want a rhino pissed off. 

Giraffes? If they weren't so darn tall, I would not have such an issue with them coming up to our windows. But, I have never encountered a scared or angry giraffe. They are tall enough to exert damaging force I'm sure. Mallory was in the backseat making remarks about how she would love to have them close to the car. I too am an animal fanatic, but also understand the power these wild creatures have. I have the utmost respect for them and what they could do should they get upset with us. 

Anyhoo, we are back on track with our post here. I'm going to do a photo dump and maybe add a comment or two. Overall, it's picture time! Like sitting on a plastic-covered couch at grandma's house with the cuckoo clock ticking away in the background, being handed photos galore that she expects you to examine and show excitement when you could give a giraffe's patootie. So, with that exciting thought in mind, I will leave this with my car's go-to phrase, "Let's go!"

We were excited to see the red wolf rise up from his nap. The wolves are difficult to view at times, simply because they remain either in their dens or their brownish coloring blends with the grass and dirt surrounding them. But today, Mallory snapped away as we sat for several moments watching this beautiful guy. 

We believed this giraffe to be Raza, our favorite. He was standing very still as we pulled up beside him on the roadway. Those eyes stared down at us and Mallory snapped photos as quickly as she could. 

Such a beautiful boy!

 Driving ahead, we spotted the always lovely cheetahs. 

Across from the cheetah runs are the tigers. Mallory took as many photos as she could of these lovely big kitties. 

Looking at these babies always makes me want to snuggle with them. Then I notice those claws and teeth. The teeth knock that idea right out of my head.

It was nap time for all of the cats. This is one of the cubs from the past season. Both cubs were up on this platform, snoozing away with their momma. 

Wouldn't you love to just bop his nose? 

Terry was able to get this close-up of the tiger.

Around the corner was a not-so-happy cheetah, waiting on his dinner. 

Is this a look of complete indignance? The cat is fed up with annoying humans not bringing steak, puckering his lips to show that annoyance. 

Yep. Refusing to even look our way now. He's had enough of our silliness and demands that steak. 

Knowing they had a new red lemur, we ventured into the village for a quick look around. Nobody in our group of three had seen a red lemur before and I knew nothing about them. It would be worth checking out. The village has been flocked with Halloween decor throughout the walkways for upcoming events. 

Love my flamingos!

The flamingos are given this fancy pen to run in, complete with a pond and waterfall, plenty of shade, and tall grasses. 

A new turtle was inside a digging den as they called it. The turtle received a few moments inside the den to dig and enjoy the cool sand. This is an African-spurred tortoise. They burrow into the sand to avoid bad weather. 

Wildlife Safari was preparing for some Halloween events. Their decorations were creative, especially the names on the headstones. Names like NA Pitt, Yuel B. Next, and others made us giggle. 

Dee Kade was buried here. 

Onward to the lemur play area and pond. Keeping our eyes open for the red lemur, we were soon disappointed to see the regular ring-tailed lemurs in black and white. No red. We do thoroughly enjoy the black and white lemurs too, don't get me wrong. However, I wanted to see a red lemur. 

But while we were there, I took some time to get photos of the koi and the gorgeous duck taking advantage of leftover food he might find at the bottom of the waters of the koi pond. 

While this duck appears to be a common mallard, this is actually an uncommon, rare variant of the mallard duck. Blue-headed mallards are rare, but they are not hybrids. Who knew? 

Often the green-headed mallard can be seen as having blue alongside the green, but that is only due to the iridescence of the feathers. But the feathers on this variant of mallard are a true blue color. Stunning bird!

Lemurs were in their play area and houses, but the red was still elusive.  

Uh oh. I was busted taking photos. 

I thought this photo had an interesting twist. The line is actually the sun glaring off of a scale on the fish, shooting the light from top to bottom. He really had nothing going through his body as it would appear. 

Beautiful red leaves framed the red train as it chugged around the park, giving rides to visitors. 

Followers of the blog know that we have talked about the maned wolves before, but have never shown one. This is due to them being ill a couple of times or at least under veterinarian care and one other time they were not out. Well, this time I had the opportunity to take a couple photos, although Mr. Stubborn here walked out and immediately laid down behind the rocks. That took out the chance for a good photo shoot. 

These beautiful canines are from South America. They look like a cross between a wolf and a fox but are related to neither. In fact, the maned wolf is the only species in the genus Chrysocyon. 

As we walked further into the village, we saw another unusual sight at Wildlife Safari. Both the cougars were up and chasing each other around. Typically they are sleeping or lazing around, doing nothing.

We strolled past the train station and the maned wolf run, where we came upon the other lemur playground and nesting area. This time, it's home to the red lemur! Finally! We got to see a red lemur or two! These lemurs reminded me a bit of the red pandas. 

The Red Ruffed Lemur is actually a critically endangered species of lemur. These red-fluffy babies are the largest of all the lemur groups. Like all lemurs, they are native to the rainforests of Masoala, Madagascar. Hopefully, the Wildlife Safari staff will be successful in breeding these animals to keep the population from dwindling away. 

The two lemurs here were playing a game. One would run across the bridge and play around for a second or two. Once it ran back, the second one would take off, meeting it in the middle of the bridge, and repeat what the first lemur had done. 

Around the entrance once more, we ran into the ambassador cheetah cubs. These were the babies born last spring. 

Terry was able to capture this close-up of the cheetah cub. 

Once again we scored. The animals were in awesome form today. I was impressed by how many new animals they had there, such as the blue mallard, and how rare it is. Then there was the hippo, one kept in quarters by itself so I'm assuming it is the new one. The hippo was in a position that made it almost impossible to get a photo. Then the red lemurs and finding out how close to extinction they are.

Each time we visit Wildlife Safari, we find out more about these endangered species, and that makes it all worthwhile. We never know how much time is given to these amazing creatures with the abuse they suffer in their native homes. Humans have ensured the extinction of some and possibly more to come. Thinking of any of these animals not being on the planet much longer breaks my heart. I want my great-grandchildren and my great, great-grandchildren to grow up with red lemurs in their lives. I want them to be able to be in awe at the wonders nature has given us. 

Until our next post, please have an amazing week, filled with love, happiness, and most of all an overwhelming sense of the blessings around you. Thank you for reading the blog. We appreciate all of you. 

@psychicpoet0188

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