This box turtle is in the “light flyweight” class.
Actually, all box turtles are in the “light flyweight” class.
Sign
Oh for crying out loud. Would you people stop touching the bees? I mean, really.
Get consent first.
Aenenome
This aenenome was about the size of a dime*.
* US *or* Canadian. They’re pretty much the same size in both countries**.
** Can you believe that only two countries have a dime coin? Turns out that the first people to suggest a decimal-based were Thomas Jefferson***, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton***, and David Rittenhouse in 1783. That’s right, the country that invented decimal money is one of the last in the world to adopt metric measurement.
*** Dude can rap like you wouldn’t believe.
Sign
Employees must not wash hands before returning to work.
Long Tailed Salamander
This salamander is wondering why narrators are always talking about how this building or that can “be seen from space”.
“If we can see can see OGLE-2014-BLG-0124Lb, 76,422,100,000,000,000 miles* away, seeing something from orbit is nothing to brag about.
Even factoring in relative sizes, at half the mass of Jupiter, assuming similar density, OGLE-2014-BLG-0124Lb would have a diameter of 68,957.812 miles.
So, from a low earth orbit of 200 miles up, you should be able to see things that are 0.0000000001805 miles wide. That’s 0.00001143 inches … smaller than a human hair.”
Salamanders think they understand satellite imagery, but they really don’t.
* Converted to Western measurement for American readers. Salamanders still work in aṅgulas.
Meerkat performing Jew of Malta
This, Barabas; since things are in thy power, I see no reason but of Malta’s wreck, nor hope of thee but extreme cruelty: nor fear I death, nor will I flatter thee.
Meerkat performing Massacre at Paris
“Now fals the star whose influence governes France, Whose light was deadly to the Protestants: Now must he fall and perish in his height.”
Meerkat performing Dido
“Thankes good Iarbus for thy friendly ayde, Achates and the rest shall waite on thee, Whil’st I rest thankfull for this curtesie.”
Siamang
“Woe is me, for me is a dative object and woe is a singular verb and dative constructions are not used in contemporary English so everyone picks on my grammar.”
Tomato Frog
Tomato frogs seldom get any riper than this. Think of them as an heirloom variety.
Sign
They serve everything at that restaurant.
Sign
Best zoo sign in Virginia.
Rhinoceros Hornbill
I didn’t realize this until quite recently, but the casques on the head of a hornbill are NOT hollow. I had just assumed they were because everything else about birds is surprisingly hollow and light. The big long toucan bills? Hollow. Those big strong eagle bones? Hollow. Those massive feathers on peacocks? Hollow.
Hornbills? The birds named after animals that have big hollow horns? Solid casques as dense as ivory.
Of course, while the rhinoceros hornbill is doing okay, some hornbills are being slaughtered for their “ivory” casques, which are carved and sold to rich collectors.
Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis)
My friends, I present to you the closest living relative to the elephant.
Every family’s got one.
Color Garden
What?
Canada goose
All the geese have learned that it’s best to just ignore Wilbur when he’s off on one of his tirades.
Desert Iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis)
Come to the light side. We have lettuce.
Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
I had the same problem with the acorn woodpecker. I need to find lighter flashes to carry.
Ringtail (Bassariscus astutus)
It never fails. The one time in the last many years that I have a chance to get a good shot of a ringtail and I don’t have my flash with me. (They’re heavy so I usually only carry them on a second pass through a zoo.)
So it’s a grainer shot than I’d like, but it’s still nice to have seen one.
Giraffe
One day she’ll go, off into the distance, striding, her long legs carrying her past the valley, past the mountains, past the edge of the known land off into the unexplored territories. She will wander, thirsty, hungry, tired until she finally arrives, covered in dirt and sweat, physically exhausted, in that mystical land, that magical place full of wonders. She will, with luck, finally meet that one special person, the one she’s heard of, the legendary one, the only person left on the entire planet that doesn’t care if she over-uses commas.