I’m somewhat negative about my two trips to Africa last year. Lots of money, lots of time, and lots of effort to see some of the extremely small slices of the wild that remain out there.
Still, it was neat to see a wild colobus.
colobus
Chameleon
Triceratopses didn’t go extinct, they just shrank.
Fly
Sometimes when you’re doing hand-held macro photography in the field, you can be off by a few micrometers. Sometimes it works out anyway.
African Forest
I find it interesting that an infrared photo of the forests in Uganda look exactly like the photos in my old books on African exploration.
Leaf
When we went to see the gorillas, they made us wait a while first. They claim that their trackers were figuring out where the gorillas had moved to during the night, but I think they were really just decorating all the leaves.
Veiled Chameleon
The veiled chameleon can only be created with bards, sorcerers, and wizards of level 6 or higher.
Giraffe
Giraffe seeds grow best in hardiness zone 11b
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
“How do you like my hat?”
“I made it myself.”
Cylinder
You know those big clear cylinders with jellyfish in them?
This is what happens if you let the sun shine through.
Lobster
This lobster is holding a gender re-veiling party … because it’s still no one’s business but theirs.
Tomistoma
Shots like this make me feel like a BBC photographer.
Jelly
To create a clove hitch, make a loop around a nearby fish. Then make another loop and pass the free end under the second loop before tightening. You can also just create a loop in the free end and slide it over the fish, if the fish is moving slowly enough. Then make another loop the same as the first. Put the second loop over the fish (just above the first loop) and tighten the hitch.
Decorator Crab
Decorator crabs are known for gluing bits of coral and shells to themselves to aid in camouflage – but some just want to be fluffy.
Karaganda Pit Viper
It’s a little known fact that the hydra of legend was really just a really well-coordinated group of friends.
Human and Fish
I like how they put up a force field to keep the fish from eating the kid.
And for those of you who say “umm, it’s glass”, might I remind you that the kid can’t touch the glass because the electrons in his hand are repelled by the electrons in the glass, so it’s all about the electromagnetic FORCE.
So I’m right.
Thhhppppt*.
*Except about that. Google tells me it’s actually spelled “Thpppt”.
Fish
Fish that just got one of those “grab the book nearest you and turn to page X” memes and is honestly baffled.
Who has a single book that is clearly the “nearest”? Do you measure from the center of your body mass? From your outer surface? If it’s not clear, are you supposed to get a measuring tape? What if you walk nearer a different book on your way to get the tape and back? Do you have to measure the distance to every book along that path to pick the right one? What happens when you reach out to measure, changing your outer surface’s proximity to the book? What if you go through all this effort to find that there is no page X? What if the book is only X-4 pages long? What if page X is blank? What if page X was torn out in a fit of frustration the last time you had to go through this exercise.
This fish thinks the Internet is too complicated and goes back to reading.
(and before you ask, the fish can read underwater because of the SCUBA* gear.)
*Self Contained Underwater Browsing Apparatus
Dwarf Seahorse
This seahorse is glad that Pete Townshend added the “to your heart” line to “Let My Love Open The Door”, as that would be a troublesome authentication factor to develop.
Eyelash Viper
This viper is here to remind you it’s not your fault you were born into an unfair and exploitative system and that when you encounter abusers, you should bite them and inject your venom into their blood
This viper might be oversimplifying that second point.
Ornate Plated Lizard
Plated lizards have racing stripes to help them run faster.
Magnificent Frigatebird
This Magnificent Frigatebird was injured in Hurricane Harvey and is the only captive member of its species in the world (to the best of mine and the aquarium’s knowledge)
While I hope to see some when I eventually travel down to Antarctica, it was nice to see one a bit closer to home.