Come with me on a leisurely stroll along the Gorilla Falls Trail
I'll sashay along...
(In case you're wondering, ndege means birds and nyani means monkeys.
)
Lies! You said it was the Gorilla trail!
Did you know that the Colobus Monkey:
Of course. Who doesn't know that?
Obviously the white colouring is for communal child rearing, the "mutilation" refers to their thumbs, their colouration is for camouflage, similar to zebras stripes, and they eat soil, possibly to help digest toxic leaves. This is common knowledge.
Especially when you read the link you provided.
Those of you who know me at all, know that I’m a bit of a bird lover,
Pygmy indeed! I never would've thought of those as geese!
The Black-faced Spoonbill makes me smile simply because they are so unique from anything I’d ever seen around my neck of the woods.
I'd love to see one IRL.
Go ahead, tell me you don’t pause to give them a bit of attention….
I don't pause to give them attention.
I do... but you asked me to tell you I didn't, so... Just following directions.
Where did you get this shot??? I don't remember an underwater hippo viewing area!
- Not True Swimmers: While they spend much of their time in the water, hippos are not swimmers in the traditional sense. They primarily walk along the riverbed.
- Territorial and Aggressive: Hippos are considered one of the most dangerous animals in Africa, particularly if threatened near the water.
- Large Size: They are the third-largest land mammals, after elephants and white rhinos.
- Nighttime Grazing: Hippos come out of the water at night to graze on grass.
Here, however, I
did know most of this. I did
not know about the nighttime grazing, but new the rest.
- Skin Secretion: The red-orange secretion helps protect them from sunburn, sunburn, and bacterial infections.
- Breath-Holding: They can hold their breath for up to five minutes, allowing them to spend extended periods underwater.
- Echolocation and Vision: Hippos use a combination of echolocation and dichromatic vision (seeing in two colors).
- Fast Runners: Despite their size, hippos can run up to 30 km/h.
Knew most of this too! I couldn't have given you an accurate breath holding time, and am actually a bit surprised it's "only" 5 minutes. I would've guessed 20 or more. Knew they were fast runners, but again, didn't have an exact number. Would've guessed between 30-50 km/h. But had no idea about the echolocation.
You run an educational TR here, sister.
Better hope that's not the big one's branch...
I spent quite a bit of time, and even long enough to see some obnoxious folks get a polite, but solid, chewing out by the trail hosts for yelling at the animals to look towards them. STOP THAT!!!!
Some people really go out of their way to prove they haven't been brought up properly.
My next goal was The Conservation Station to catch a drawing class.
Lots of DISers love this.
Little did I know that a poignant and moving moment awaited…
(Oops! Excuse me! I shouldn’t have tacos before I write a chapter.
)
oy...
The backstory is that as I walked up to the animal surgery center, a family behind me started having a talk. The dad ended up being an anesthesiologist and was explaining the anesthesia machine to his 20-something year-old son who is in medical school and trying to decide on his specialty. He went into great detail about anesthesia and how the machine worked with all of the circuits and flowmeters. I turned around and told him a little bit about my dad and that I had come here to remember him. They were very touched. What a really neat memory to come away with.”
Aww... What a nice moment for you.
Today’s character would be Simba all grown up and I think I did okay- one of my better sessions.
You did okay.
For now, Asante kwa kusoma na kwaheri~
Gesundheit
Indeed you did!
