This last summer, the Red River Zoo put in a new sensory garden, with a lot of work on the part of their volunteer gardeners.
I’m not as good with plant photos as with animals, but I imagine I’ll be getting more practice in the upcoming years.
Sensory Garden
I’m slowly getting better with the new macro lens.
Prairie Dog performing Venus and Adonis
Art thou ashamed to kiss? then wink again,
And I will wink; so shall the day seem night
Cow
This cow isn’t sure that surfing social media is the best use of your time right now.
Porcupine
Sure he looks calm right now, but you know Spaceman Spiff is just a panel or two away from crash-landing on Mars.
Prairie Dog performing Pericles
Didst thou not say, when I did push thee back–
Which was when I perceived thee–that thou camest
From good descending?
Pallas Cat
When you were looking forward to your plans, but your kid needed an emergency cuddle.
Bactrian Camel
Few people know that camels can be folded for easier storage.
Prairie Dogs Performing Macbeth
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
Sea Star
When sea stars do something impressive, they give each other a high-ninety-nine.
Rockfish
Fish pondering … well, nothing really. It’s just a fish.
(What? It’s hard coming up with amusing comments all the time.)
Sea Nettle
When zoos show off cnidaria, they often use a special blend of lights to make them more distinct to the human eye. This can make them hard to see in photographs until you reduce the saturation.
Sea Star
I was wondering why the colours evolved the way they did for a creature without eyes, so I looked it up and it turns out that they *do* have eyes!
They can’t see colour though, so that question is still open.
Crystal Jelly
Since you all liked the “jellies in space” concept so much.
Whitespotted Hermit Crab
If they picked one shell and stuck with it, we’d probably call them anchoritic crabs.
Pacific Octopus
When young octopuses are in Little League, the post-game walk-by takes longer the actual game.
Leafy Seadragon
Seadragon pondering the irony that in the 80’s spying was limited by battery tech and 30+ years later people use more powerful batteries to carry around always-on microphones.
China Rockfish
This rockfish would like to remind you that winter squash last a long time, but not forever, and you should probably plan to eat that one on your counter tonight or tomorrow.
Sea Star
You never hear it, ’cause they’re underwater, but sea stars make a “splat” noise when they find just the right rock to lay on.
Bluebanded Goby
Wikipedia says this fish lives at depths between 0 to 249 ft.
My guess is that some young goby one day was told by its parents not to go 250 ft down, and that rule has been passed along ever since.