Joani found out we could buy one pass to get us into the Albuquerque Aquarium, Zoo and the Botanical Gardens - such a deal! We started with the aquarium. Reviews cautioned it was "not on par with other major city zoos," so don't expect too much. I will say it was very nice and worth the visit.
Zoo, Aquarium, Botanic Garden and unlimited train rides: Albuquerque - $20
(This combination in bigger cities will run around $80.)
Joani was really fascinated by this fish. It seemed to be posing along with a lot of the other strange and delightful swimmers.
"Hogfish" Lachnolaimus maximus
Look at those lips and the glowing blue eyes. He was 30 inches of entertainment.
"Clown Tang" Acanthurus lineatus
This guy brought to mind the sad clown paintings by Red Skelton.
The "Chambered Nautilus" Nautilus pompiliushas inhabited the seas unchanged for 500 million years, preceding dinosaurs by 256 million years. These cephalopods have about 90 tentacles (sans suckers) for grasping food.
A miniature gauge train gave us a ride to the zoo about a mile away. Zoos are sometimes a little sad because the animals seem so depressed. The wild animals in Albuquerque just seemed pretty mellow, maybe even relaxed.
Fourteen-year-old Buccaneer has been a busy boy. Three females are due to give birth this year thanks to his efforts.
“Tasmanian Devil” Sarcophilus harrisii is the largest carnivorous marsupial. Female gives birth to around 30 bean-sized joeys at a time. Only the first four that attaches to one of four nipples in her pouch will survive.
The polar bears had a little hideout not visible from anywhere in the zoo. I found one spot at the extreme end of the viewing area where they would peek around to see if anyone was looking their way. As soon as they saw me they would turn around and return to their safe space. I kept telling people they were there, but no one saw that except me and I could tell people thought I was just kidding.
The crazy Kookaburra was one of the most vocal birds I have ever seen. Every time a young woman held her cell phone up that had a recording of its call, this bird answered the call with a long drawn out chorus.
It was cuddle time.
This big boy was about as big as I am, with a much longer tail.
I think the gorillas and orangutans were the epitomai of lethargy. Just another lazy day with a lot of lookie-loos gawking from the fences.
We got back to the train just as they were ready to leave and they re-opened the gate for us. It was just like getting an extra half hour in the park by not having to wait for the next train. Just inside the gates of the Botanical Gardens was the Children's Fantasy Garden.
The Children's Fantasy Garden was my favorite part of the Botanical Garden. I would have loved this as a kid!
Step into this corner of the gardens and it was like you were shrunk to one-tenth normal size.
I needed David for scale, but I could not find him.
Finally reunited, he gave a little scale to the scene.
All I have to say is "go pop out of that egg" and he does it. What a trooper.
Another fun section was the G-Scale Railroad garden. It went on forever and had many different trains weaving about. The kids were loving it.
We took a little side trip in the gardens to visit the Bugarium. There was a giant Black Widow spider above the door which made me wonder what kind of disgusting bugs we would see. I was happy to find weird and unusual, but nothing too gross.
Leafcutter ants made a continuous march between their home in a clear cylinder and the source of fresh leaves about 50 feet away. Their path stretched from container to container through many small connecting tubes, up a vine and across the suspended vine to a fake tree where they are fed fresh leaves daily.
Leafcutter ants march overhead back and forth from a tree to their colony (a little creepy to walk under).
Yes, I'm flapping my arms like a bug. At least I waited until the room was nearly empty. I was not much of a dragonfly - I kept running into everything.
Back out in the gardens, we needed to be selective about what to see since we were quickly running out of time before closing.
The pitcher plant below had the most unique blossom I have ever seen. It was large enough that it could probably trap a half cup of water.
I think they need to introduce a few more of these carnivorous plants to combat the mosquito problem that we found in this room.
Whew! What a long day - it was good to get home to our own wild animal, Sam. After he had his walk and a treat, I was able to relax with a glass of wine and reflect on a really full day.
