Tag Archives: San Diego Safari Park – San Diego

Scimitar-horned Oryx (Oryx dammah)

Scimitar-horned Oryx (Oryx dammah)_2

I see a lot of oryx because I visit a lot of zoos. I have to remind myself that they extinct in the wild. Today, according to the IUCN red list, there are:

* 130 in captivity in Bou Hedma, Tunisia
* 25 in Sidi-Toui, Tunisia
* 12 in Oued Dekouk, Tunisia
* 240 in Souss-Massa, Morocco
* 18 in Guembeul, Senegal
* 12 in Ferlo, Senegal

There are also some recovery populations at the San Diego Zoo and the Phoenix Zoo.

There are also numerous ranches in Texas you can go to kill and eat them.

Yeah.

Safari Park

Safari Park_10

In infrared, flamingos look like sinister mob groups working to fix the next election and/or boxing match.

In reality, flamingos actually do work to fix elections and sporting events. Their pinkness is a form of protective colouration, ’cause no one expects the pink mafia.

Edit: After googling, I now know that “pink mafia” is a sexist and/or homophobic term. This is another way that you can tell that flamingos are evil, as they deflect attention away from them towards disadvantaged groups.

San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus mearnsi)

San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus mearnsi)_6

Shrikes are evolution in action. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (or “CLoO!” as probably no one calls it), “[The shrike] is a songbird with a raptor’s habits”. Basically, it likes to eat meat, but it doesn’t have talons, so it swoops down to grab a little lizard or something, then skewers it on things like barbed wire, cactus thorns, etc so it can eat it without holding on to its prey.

I may never get a photo of one hunting, but I am glad to have gotten a photo this good of one sitting.