Oddities

I went to the Columbus Zoo April 1 and was not motivated to take the camera out of its bag. I did use my phone, though, firstly in the aquarium.

In Animal Encounters Village I found Melvin celebrating her 15th birthday!

Have you ever seen a large hairy armadillo?

 Me, neither.

Recent Snakes

Here are some somewhat-recent snakes.

Red-tailed rat snake and skin. Columbus Zoo, January 2, 2024

 

 

 

A red-tailed rat snake's tail. WikiPedia says the tail is sometimes red but is usually brown. Columbus Zoo, March 25, 2025

Lake Erie water snake. Columbus Zoo, January 2, 2024.

Canebrake rattlesnake. Columbus Zoo, February 11, 2024. Focus stack of 5 images

Red spitting cobra. Columbus Zoo, February 11, 2024. Focus stack of 5 images.

Mandarin trinket snake. Columbus Zoo, April 23, 2024

Scrub pythons. Columbus Zoo, November 6, 2024

Arizona black rattlesnake. Toledo Zoo, March 1, 2025. Focus stack of 3 images

Russell's viper. Toledo Zoo, March 1, 2025

King cobra. Columbus Zoo, February 11, 2025:

Rhinoceros Hornbill

I've seen rhinoceros hornbills at three zoos.

Kirana at the Toledo Zoo in 2018. Females have white eyes.

 

Andaru at the Toledo Zoo in 2019. Males have red eyes.

Cincinnati Zoo in 2021

A juvenile at the Minnesota Zoo in 2024

Kirana and Andaru have lived at the Toledo Zoo since 2008. They seem to be compatible, but there have been no chicks.

In January, 2025, the missing gardener and I attended a rhinoceros hornbill keeper talk. The keeper was inside the enclosure, tossing grapes to the birds, and he said the hornbills have excellent beak-eye coordination. He also explained that their upper and lower mandibles meet only at the tips of their beaks, so they catch the grapes at the tips and toss them into their mouths. I don't have shots of that, but I did catch a silvery-cheeked hornbill's toss in 2023.

Here, Kirana and Andaru share a tender moment and a grape:

In the Manatee Pool

At the Columbus Zoo, Florida manatees live in the manatee pool during their rehabilitations, 

but other animals live there, too.

Lookdown fish are silvery and very thin. Do you see its spine?

When this one turns, you can see how narrow it is:

 

Brown pelican

I think the residents should be trained to clean the glass:

Maybe this southern stingray is trying to clean the glass, but it needs to work above the waterline.

 

Buddy is a hawksbill sea turtle. (Her story)

 

The manatees eat lettuce, and this leaf was positively glowing. I don't know how to capture that in an image, though.

All photos and videos are from January 14.

Woverine Romp

A wolverine romped in the snow at the Columbus Zoo January 7. I was calling this one Guillotine because she was famous for somersaults, but I learned today that Gui was euthanized in April, 2024. So this must be Alvar (thank you, sister), who seemed to be having a good time.

Somersaults and paper:

I'm still having trouble with autofocus when shooting video:

Summer Insects

Here are some insects from last July and August.

great spangled fritillary (June)

Japanese beetle on hyssop (focus stack of 4 images)

large milkweed bug on milkweed (focus stack of 6 images)

male ebony jewelwing, a damselfly

northeastern hammertail, a robber fly (focus stack of 5 images)

Is it just me, or does this ant have transparent rings in its abdomen? (focus stack of 2 images)

immature large milkweed bug on milkweed (focus stack of 5 images)

twice-stabbed stink bugs on hyssop (focus stack of 4 images)

Zethus spinipes, a wasp, on celosia

Cheetahs Running

In my previous photos of running cheetahs, I used a fast shutter to freeze the action and limit motion blur. Here's Bob in 2023, shot using a shutter speed of 1/2000s. The focus is good, there's no blurring, and we can even see his claws.

In the summer of 2024, I tried for a sense of movement and speed by using a slower shutter, panning with the cheetah, and zooming in further. On June 4, I started with a shutter speed of 1/125s for Dave and Adrienne. I suspected that would be too slow, but it was an experiment and I forged ahead. The shots of Dave were forgettable, with lots of blurry fur and too much distance thanks to only 92mm of zoom.

For Adrienne, I kept the shutter at 1/125 but zoomed to 220mm. Most shots were like this one, with too much blurry cat:

The next frame was a winner. The background and grass have streaks of speed, and her feet and tail are a little blurry with motion, but her head is pretty sharp. All four feet are off the ground and she's looking intently at the lure.

What would happen if I increased a shutter speed to 1/180s? Here's Adrienne again, a week later:

In July, I used a 1/350s shutter to capture this unknown cheetah:

Later in July, two more, also at 1/350s. I again failed to record the names so I could give them proper credit.

Minnesota Zoo

The Minnesota Zoo has a large building that hosts the Tropics Trail. There are enclosures for specific species, a pond with a gibbon island, an aquarium, and a walk-through aviary.

African dwarf crocodile

Maylayan tapir

 

American avocet

metallic starling

My video of this duck turned out badly, but I kept it because of the LOUD gibbon:

There are at least two white-cheeked gibbons. Males are black and females are white:

The aquarium can be viewed from above, and there is a fish that seems to have some personality. (I readily anthropomorphize animals, especially if I know their names.) I often saw it swimming quickly back an forth, even breaking the surface.

August 2023

 

It sometimes made a little splash, and look at those buck teeth! And bulging eyes! How can you not like this fish? Are you heartless? Burt is my favorite reptile, and this is my favorite fish. It was also a mystery fish because I couldn't identify its species.

Last December, I was standing at the top of the tank next to a family (of people). The dad said, "There goes Scooter!" This was exciting to me, because [see above]. I turned and asked if that's its name, and a daughter replied that's just what they call it. "It's a good name," I said.

Scooter, also August 2023

I wasn't sure what Scooter looked like other than from above because it's difficult to see the surface from the underwater viewing area. One way I identify animals is through Google's image search, but my overhead shots didn't work. In December, I got a side-on picture.

Scooter, December 2024

Google told me Scooter is a yellowmargin triggerfish. I'm sad that I no longer have a mystery fish but happy that I have a name, even if it's unofficial.

There's no Business Like Snow Monkey Business

I visited the Minnesota Zoo in December and found snow monkeys up to snow monkey business. They eat snow on the move:

 They sit in the snow:

Note snowball

They make snowballs:

They lift the flap, rather than push through, to go inside