I'm back with the second part of my zoo post today. If you've missed the first part, you can check it out here.
After we left the monkeys to have some fun without people watching them, we met this cutie, which was fun to look at.
It is called common ostrich and has the ability to move its neck up and down, while keeping its head in the same position. It was funny to watch. Looking at it from the other side of the fence seems fun, the animals seems harmless, but in fact it isn't. It can bite you in a split second in a way that you will remember it for the rest of your life.
Ostriches are not common in Romania, you can't find them running around free, but are bred for the egg and maybe for the meat as well, I am not sure of the latter.
Kinds usually feed them with bread and popcorn, which is very bad, there are warning signs all over the zoo warning visitors that feeding is strictly forbidden, but some people just don't care. There's a good reason why feeding is not allowed, but the majority of those who are feeding the animals against all the warnings can only think about their own entertainment.
According to the sign there should be common buzzards and griffon vultures here. I was able to identify two birds, marked them on the photo with two red circles. The problem is they are too far for visitors to be able to see them properly with the naked eye. These are prey birds, that need space to fly and they can't have that here. They are fed manually, so most likely none of them would survive in the wild.
Next there's the aquarium, which is a fascinating place. Unfortunately it's small, but it is still something.
You can find all kinds of creatures here, from small ones like on the photo above, to the bigger ones I'm going to show on the upcoming photos.
It's difficult to take photos in there as using the flash is out of the question, the aquarium glass is not always clean as visitors have the habit of touching it and the staff can't clean it all the time, so I did the best I could.
It's a wonderful experience looking at these beauties, small or big, both are spectacular.
This little cutie was standing in that position, without moving. Then someone in front of me put their finger on the glass and the fish moved. Looks like he was paying attention to what was going on on the other side of the glass and the movement startled him. But after seeing there's no danger, he took his position again and stayed there like you see him on the photo. How strange.
Here's a bigger one, about the size of what you usually get at the restaurant, but this one is not for sale obviously. Too bad the glass was broken. That needs fixing.
According to the label, this is a collosoma bidens, originating from South America that eats plants and fruits and it's peaceful.
Finally, here's the most important and fun part, the turtles. These cuties were standing in that position for God knows how long as they were not moving. It was like they were staying in that pose to entertain visitors.
Look at the pattern of the skin of this one. Isn't it amazing?
Not all of them were in the water, there were a few on that wooden branch.
These are goldfish, very cute ones.
As I am always saying, kids and animals are the hardest to photograph. Fish go into the same category. Unless you have the latest professional camera, or can ask the fish to stand still, you take 20 photos of which maybe one will be decent.
This is southern platyfish.
A big ancistrus, a nice one.
And a few nice black marble hoplos.
This was the aquarium, the fish part anyway, so stay tuned for the next episode as it's going to be interesting, specially if you like snakes :)