Ness-Ness, her daughter and I returned to the Oakland Zoo to see the actual animals as well as the lit-up animals in their diurnal form. This was the entrance.
I saw many beasts but I’m only going to share a few. Starting with a bunch of ravens chillin’ on a net. Not part of the zoo at all. I got really excited about seeing them. Ness-Ness was like “…We’re at the zoo with many exotic creatures from all over the world and you’re psyched about… local birds?” The answer is yes. Ravens are awesome and I am not ashamed.
Nor-alive big ole flying grasshopper!
Alive jaguar sleeping mere feet from me! I wanted to touch. The glass was strong.
The queen ant and her massive egg-laying butt tunnel of love. It’s great during the day as well.
As is the centipede.
This bug is still confusing. The black part, that’s the face, right? And the two twiddly bits, that’s the butt? Those are fangs on the black flat face? I rarely don’t know which end is up (heh).
Jumping spider:
The flies with the corpse flower:
The (I think) cicadas scratching their 17-year-itch with an ant that clearly didn’t consent to being adjacent to this sexual act:
Back to live animals. If you read my recent Kenya and Tanzania posts I referenced birds I called “sentient mangoes.” There were some of them in a massive enclosure with other African fauna.
A Sacred Ibis! Love them. Black featherless heads and poofy white bodies? I am here for that. Also please note the antelope in the background. We’re going to get into him in a moment.
A Klipspringer is a wee African antelope that lives its life on its tippy-toes because it hops from rock to rock. I’ve never seen one in person so I was delighted when I was right next to one! So small. So precious.
The keeper was in the enclosure because the zoo would be closing in twenty minutes and the Klipspringer was hanging right next to her. I was envious.
Hyena. Very large. Larger than I had originally thought.
Some kind of monkey with an absurdly long tail.
Back to the sculptures. The porcupine:
The bearded dragon:
These were referred to as wolves. I do not get wolves from them. I get coyote, maybe. Perhaps they’re a rare type of wolf that I’m unfamiliar with.
Really well-designed snake:
And a traumatized frog.
If you’re near Oakland during the holiday season and you can get tickets I highly recommend checking this out. It’s awesome and different every year.