AMAZING Day

written: Oct 4th

How on earth do I properly sum up how incredibly awesome today was?
How do I accurately describe the differences in texture on a rhino’s horn or his face or his ribcage?
How do I describe the silky softness of a woma python compared to the sleekness of my Leviathan (corn snake)?
How do I describe the incredible awe of being able to touch animals that are critically endangered? Even extinct in the wild? And yet, here I am, being able to see these awesome reptiles and amphibians up close and personal, and getting to actually touch them?

I will just have to do my best!

I had two VIP Behind-the-Scenes tours at the Abilene Zoo. The first one as with the Black Rhino. And while I’m not particularly fond of non-predator animals, I have to say, I understand now why some people love rhinos. Macho (their male Black Rhino) was beyond adorable. As the keeper accurately described, he was just like a GIANT puppy dog. He came trotting over as soon as he spied us and the Blue Bucket of Goodies. Turns out, he loves bananas, apples, and sweet potatoes. And that pointed lip of the black rhino – it’s extremely muscular and is a lot like the tip of an elephant’s trunk. He could curl that around the food item and pull it into his mouth. And he smelled of sweet hay. It reminded me of horses.

My mom really liked the fur fringe around Macho’s ear:

And the second VIP Tour was with Tony (my first real-life New York Italian) and the reptiles. Very informative and we saw so much. Seriously, I probably could have spent the day learning everything he wanted to talk about and show us. I was thrilled when he pulled out the female woma python they had. This is a snake I seriously want to get, and it was awesome to see what her temperament was like. I was amazed at how soft she felt and she wasn’t as sleek as Leviathan is. A texture that was solely woma python.

And we probably put our hands on 20 something species on that one hour tour. Hissing cockroaches (Mom opted not to touch those), tons of turtles and tortoises, a veiled chameleon, tons of frogs and toads, a prehensile tail skink, and juvenile American alligator. I’m sure I’m forgetting a ton – there was just so much packed into that one hour.
And after that, we got to watch Tony and Phillip (another reptile Keeper there at the zoo), feed their large male American Alligator – named Albert.

All in all, I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to spend the day for a very reasonable cost ($120 for the two of us to do both of the behind the scenes tours). I think David would LOVE the rhino tour, so I’m trying to find a time that I can drag his butt down there and we can do that. ::smiles::