Beautiful Animals

Golden Eagle

Dem raptors is wonderful. Thanks, Rosborne.


Falcon:






And a nonraptor, a red-winged blackbird:

A tigrillo from Central and South America. These are also called margays.





Male baboon:

Another sea slug:





Dik dik (very small antelope), and this one's kinda shy.

Fisher:




Black-footed ferret:

Blue lobster:





Tomato frog:

Tree kangaroo:





This is some kind of insect from Ecuador:

Aye! You got me, Roberta. I'm amazed and impressed that you would have looked up Coluber, which is the genus of racer snakes. Here is a picture of the black racer of Florida and the South.

I've always been impressed by the black racers, because of their alertness and intelligence. I once observed a black racer trying to cross a paved, country road. On the first try it got 1/3 across, sensed a truck coming and came back. The second time it got 3/4 of the way and returned again because of a car. The third time he made it across. Now, you might ask why he came back the second time if he was so smart, since he made it most of the way across, but he didn't know how far he had to go, just how far he came. Of course many black racers are run over, but this occurs on cool days when their metabolism slows down to the point where they can respond only slowly or not at all.

When I was a kid and lived in Florida, we would often here the pitiful distress call of a leopard frog. By following the source we would usually come upon a black racer with the frog in its jaws.

Coluber, I lack depth of knowledge about animals, but I have a lot of general details floating around in my head. I knew that a coluber was an animal. Wasnt' sure what though, but I remembered the name. Not hard to find out what. Black racers are interesting--and fast. I also like the way they look.

My two favorite snakes:


Black mamba. I like them because they're among the few snakes that don't back down. And the awe and aura surrounding them. This photo gives a glimpse of where the black mamba gets its name from. The inside of their mouths is black.




BTW, I was watching a tv show where a black mamba was supposed to be loose somewhere. They showed a black snake! I was annoyed.


Here's a green anaconda. One of these polka-dotted giants was a resident at the Bronx Zoo. I saw it frequently when I was growing up and was concerned that it's enclosure was too small and it couldn't stretch out. When I became a member of the NY Zoological Society, I attended membership night at Lincoln Center. There they brought the green anaconda and stretched it out on the giant stage. At least ten people held it. Amazing.

Crested caracara:





Chinchilla:

Northern Flying Squirrel

Hiya Reg, I found the photo you used. And it is definitely labeled a flying squirrel. I also read the article that goes along with the photo. What it describes doesn't correspond to the photo. What am I talking about? It describes flaps of skin that enable the squirrel to glide. Like this:

i noticed that too... maybe there are different varieties?

Could be different varieties. But I've seen enough bizarre mistakes and mislabeling as I've gathered photos to wonder whether your squirrel is a jumper rather than a glider. Cute as the dickens, though.

Thanks, C.I. Love dem gulls. I'm hoping to see some new photos when you return from your next trip.

I saw a cormorant when I was sailing (many years ago).

I think the squirrel at top is just a red squirrel doing what they do best - jump. Those suckers are mean - considered a pest here in Michigan. They are a handsome breed though.

Click below to see a series of twelve photos snapped with a motion sensitive camera in Zacouma (park?), Africa. Some of the photos are one of many and the photographer constructed stop action videos of them.

NGS