The life and times of an English Airedale Terrier puppy

Monday, July 16, 2007

Animal Magic

Hello! I hope you're all well. I am good. I had a fun weekend. My hooman step sisters were here this weekend. It's E's 6th birthday on Wednesday so we celebrated with her.


We went to a really cool place called Cotswold Wildlife Park. There were so many different animals there. I couldn't believe how many different animals there are in the world, and how many of them are in danger because of humans destroying their habitats.


It's a cool place because us dogs are allowed in most areas of the park apart from the bat belfry (eek, who wants to be near scawie bats anyway), the farmyard area where animals are roaming loose and the reptile house. Apart from that we can see all the animals, cool!


First we went to see the Humboldt penguins. They were really cool guys. They come from Peru and Chile and are a smaller breed of penguins, weighing around 4kg when grown.


We watched them being fed (mackerel, yummy). These 3 were obviously the greedy ones of the group as they were waiting at the door to the keeper's office where they could obviously smell the fish being prepared!

After they had been fed they stand and digest the fish which they store in their gullet until it forms a mushy fish paste, yum!


We also saw lemurs. They come from Madagascar. The park has two types, ring tailed and black and white ruffed. These are the ring tailed as you hopefully worked out! They are omnivores, basically meaning they will eat anything!

Next we went to see the meerkats. As it was quite a chilly day, a lot of them were hiding, but this little guy had come to have a sniff to see what was going on.

Most of his mates were inside their house. This one was really camping it up for the camera! They look cute, but are very territorial and will fight to the death in the wild if a rival group of meerkats try to take over their territory.

We found more fish eaters! These are otters and they were having a great time splashing about and eating their fishy dinner.


Look at this cute little baby with his mum. He got his own fish when they were fed and there was no way any of the bigger otters were going to get it from him!

I asked if I could share a fish but there was no chance!

I can't remember what this animal is. Maybe one of you will recognise it. They look very chilled out sitting on their rock watching the world go by.

Next we went to look at the monkeys. They were so great at using their hands, feet and tails to swing across the cages, nets and trees.


E & J thought this bird only had one leg, so dad explained that they like to stand like that. Can you see the fluffy baby in the nest?

This is a great hornbill. Isn't that beak quite something? They use it to amplify their call, which can be heard for 800 metres!

Here's a beautiful male peacock. Sadly he didn't put his tail feathers up to show us the full glory of his plumage, but he still looked pretty spectacular! He was just roaming around the car park when we went back to the car to get our lunch!

Here is dad looking at the tortoises. They had very bumpy shells. They were munching on lots of lettuce and tomato.

Here's an iguana. He was so still he almost looked like a statue. I bet he can move fast if he wants to catch some prey, or if an animal is chasing him though!


I wasn't allowed in the reptile house, but the girls told me there were lots of ants, spiders, stick insects (wow, I would have liked to have seen those!) and snakes! It was hard to get photos as everything was behind glass.

Here is a pair of alligators! There was also a crocodile who was sitting under a waterfall as if he was having a shower, but sadly the photo didn't come out as it was just too dark. Mum and dad used to call me The CrocoDALE when I was teething, but these guys have some serious teeth going on!

These guys are siamangs. They are the largest gibbons. There was a teeny baby but he was dashing all over the place and we had no chance of a non-blurred photo of him!

And here's another monkey...oh whoops, that's E playing in the park. It looked like a huge agility course but I wasn't allowed to play on it, boo!

I could have stood on here while it span round but noooo, had to sit and watch.


These are zebus. They are the scared cow of India. Can you see the hump they have on their backs?

Here's a big fat piggy. I bet he has some good pork ribs I could munch on. Oops, sorry mum!

They had very bristly hair and were very stinky. Look at his cute curly tail!

And here's a little billy goat. Cute huh? Wouldn't want to get too close to those horns though. His beard is even more impressive than mine, that's why he's looking so smug I think!

There was another fat piggy. Can you see his big tusky tooth sticking out? he was dreaming and his mouth was twitching away. He must have been dreaming about eating.


I have seen these animals in the pet shop. They're guinea pigs. There were lots of them and they were all going "wee, wee, wee".

Mum used to have guinea pigs when she was little, and likes these scruffy looking ones the best.

There were also bunny rabbits like Simba has at home. These 3 definitely look like they're plotting something!

And there was a HUGE rabbit like Sunshade's Georgie. I asked him if he knew Georgie, but he looked at me like I was stupid!


Back outside there were some zebras. I liked their stripes a lot, though they did make my eyes go a bit funny when I stared at them lots. They originally come from East Africa.

This one looks like he's a bit camera shy! 2 of them were playing chase and were racing around.

Wow, just look at this guy. he's a southern white rhino and was just huge! They can weigh up to 3600kg! He had obviously found a great muddy puddle, lucky thing.

E & J posed with him. The beauties and the beast.


There were also ostriches. These guys are very tall. They can reach speeds of up to 43 miles per hour and their kick could kill a human, yikes.

We went to see the lions and leopards. The lions were all high up in the branches snoozing, and we could only just see the leopard having an afternoon nap.

After all those and many more animals we sat down for a well deserved ice lolly. Well, for the hoomans, poor little me didn't get anything.

On the way back to the car we saw the Bactrian camels from SE China. Their humps are full of fat so they can survive out in the desert without having to eat and drink regularly.

The last thing we saw were these giant tortoises, these guys were huge, E & J could easily have sat on their backs and had a ride!

When we got home the excitement didn't end. Mum had made E some birthday buns. E & J can't eat dairy produce as they get poorly when they have lactose, so mum made these buns and the icing from special ingredients. She said they didn't rise as well as regular cakes, but I still think they look pretty good.

E was certainly impressed with them, look at that smile. Ansd everyone agreed they tasted good. Everyone except me that is as I didn't get to try these either. Harumph!

E was allowed to open a small presents from us, she took her main present home to open on her actual birthday.

Phew, so that was my busy weekend. I hope you enjoyed learning about all the animals. I certainly did, and hopefully I can go and visit them again soon.

Licks
Oscar x

38 comments:

PreciOus said...

Wow Oscar, that's a lot of animals to learn in one day! Ok erm erm, the only one I'm familiar with is the peacock coz I've seen them in one of my local beach! Hee.

Oh and Happy Birthday in advance to lil' E! E and J are so pretty and adorable with red cheeks!

Snuggle,
Precious

Headgirl said...

What a great day out you had.
It's been absolutely ages since I went to the Cotswold Wildlife Park, now I have to re-visit very, very soon.
Shame we couldn't have met there!
Lots of pats
Blue

Ruby Bleu said...

What a great weekend. You sisters are very cute! I can't believe that no one shared any snackies with you...that doesn't seem fair at all!!!

Lots of Licks, Ruby

Joe Stains said...

wow that is more animals than I never even knew existed. Your humans are very cute!

fee said...

happy burpday miss e! what an interesting day out at the zoo! i love the meerkats and penguins best!

Molly the Airedale said...

E & J are just adorable! Happy birthday E!!!! Now about that otter. Don't we Airedales have Otterhound heritage in us? I just looked in the mirror and I don't see any resemblance what-so-ever to that wet funny looking animal! What a fun weekend you had!

Love ya lots,
Maggie

Asta said...

Oscar,
obviously good looks wun in your family, E and J are bootiful dolls, but you're so handsome what else could they be??Happy birfday to E!!
Thank you for showing us all those fabulous aminals..I've never seen any of them befowe, what a tewwific place you got to go to..you're such a lucky pup, xept I think you should have gotten at least an ice lolly too
smoochie kisses
Asta

Anonymous said...

Oh Oscar.. what a busy BUT fun weekend with your family. I loved all of the photos. Mom says that she likes otters! Those birthday buns looked yummy! I hope that they girls enjoyed eating them. I am sad that you didn't get any.
Hugs,
Sitka

Faya said...

C'est génial le Zoo .... j'adore y aller (bon je dois rester en laisse)... Ici le grand Zoo est à Bâle...
Bisous, Ta Faya

Juno said...

What a fun weekend, Oscar! Thanks for showing many animals I've ever seen!!
E & J are so adorable..just like you! :)

Momo xoxo

Katherine and Pippa said...

Hey Oscar - finally made mistress post my seven oops I mean five things (it was seven tbh).

We have some of those animals round here. Peacocks, geckos and chameleon (like iguana family), different cattle, tortugas an' things.

Myself I like cats....

Good that you could go to mosts stuff tho'. Mistress loooved the penguin pix.

Pippa

Tadpole said...

Oh Oscar, I think one of the camels has a broken hump! It's falling over!

I like how you told us what each of the animals eat... that's the really important part, you know. That's so awesome that you got to go along! We don't have anything like that over here!

Agatha and Archie said...

Hi Oscar,We are Agatha+ Archie from Boston,Mass and we think you are adorable!! We would NEVER be allowed to see that here in the States!!You were very lucky!! We wouldn't want to see the bats either(Once we had one in the HOUSE)and PL(pack leader) 2 freaked out.PL 1 got rid of it!!! Love,Your pals Agatha+ Archie( named after 2 characters in a PG Wodehouse book!!!)

JAZZ AND DIXIE said...

Wow, such a lot of cool animals. Mum especially liked the baby otter. Sounds like you had a great day - so lucky that you could go along! So I quess after such a busy weekend you will be taking it easy now.
Licks
Jazz and Dixie

Chelsea said...

Mama had a friend who was attacked by a peacock at the zoo when she was small...you are lucky you left unscathed.

Your step sisters are very cute. Not to say that they are cuter than you. But, AS cute.

xoxoox
Chelsea

Balboa said...

All those cute animals, how adorable.

Not even a lick of a cupcake, hmph!

FRenchie Snorts
Balboa

Jake of Florida said...

Hi Oscar,

We enjoyed looking at all the interesting animals. Here in South Florida alligators swim in lots of the canals and lakes and feral (wild)iguanas have been multiplying -- so we dawgs think twice sometimes about where we walk!!! (And Mom will not walk across high grass....)

Looks like you had a great weekend.

Can;t wait to see more pictures of your next adventures.

Jake and Just Harry

the many Bs said...

What an adventure! You really got to see a lot of cool creatures. That looked like a lot of fun.

Lorenza said...

Hi, Oscar.
What a day did you have!! Those are lots of animals. Thanks for sharing your pictures with us!
Say Happy Birthday to your little sis E.
Those mini cakes look yummy! Too bad you didn't taste them!
Have a good night
Lorenza

Kien said...

oh oscar.. u make my mummy wanna jump into the computer and join u guys!!..she is an animals lover freak!!
Love all those animals picture.. fun way to know each of them..

Love
Golden Rossi

Marvin -The Hollow Hound said...

Hi Oscar! They were lovely pictures! It looked like you had a really good family fun weekend.

love and licks, Marv xxxxx

Marvin -The Hollow Hound said...

oooops! Sorry, forgot to say the pictures of your hooooman step sisters are just adorable.

Happy Birthday to E!

love and licks, Marv xxxx

Simba and Jazzi said...

3 rabbits, thats nearly a whole army!! What a great day out and rounded off with cake, yum yum. Happy Birthday E.

Simba xx

Scrappy and Pebbles said...

Thank you for sharing the fabulous pics of all the critters you saw on your day out. I really enjoyed looking at them

Tail wags
Scrappy

Yuki n Joyce said...

wow wow wow!! those are some amazing animals! yes i did enjoy learning about all the different animals. i'm glad you had fun there too;) happy birthday E! E & J are both real beauties:D

Yuki

Amber-Mae said...

Oh woweeee! You've met sooo many wild animals in one day. That's soooo cool! I wish I could do that too. You sure know most of their namestoo. Hmmm, you must be highly educated. Are you sure you're not a zoologist? Kekekeke... Oh yes, i almost forgot! Happy Birthday to Eeeeeeeeeee! She's sooo adorable 7 I must a gree, she does look like a monkey(in a cute way I mean! Don't get me wrong...)

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

Gwyn Valentine said...

WOWW!!!!!! So many animals!
how cool is it that we dogs are allowed! It must be really exciting coming face to face with so many animals!

happy birthday to ur little sis!

Oh i love meerkats!!!

Love,
Reina

Peanut said...

Holy dog that is a lot of animals. How cool to see them all. Your step sisters are to cute.

Freda said...

Hey Oscars,

Your bark and all the cooools photos reminds my secretary of when he use to works in a zoo. His zoo had manys of the same wilders. How come the peeps aren't in cages and stuffs? Arf! Arf!

And a long times ago in a galaxy fars, fars away my peeps drove throughs Longleat. They said it was reeeallys cooools! It seems the Dr. Who Museum is no longer theres. Dad said that was neatos.

Bark Happys BDay to E for me.

Wuufs!

Ƨ

Rachael said...

You got to see otters! I'm so jealous! Otters are my absolute favorite! Thanks so much for sharing your day with us. Wildlife parks 'round here don't let dogs in. :(

T-man Angel said...

Oscar, that's great that you got to go along to the zoo with your family. Most places here would make the doggies stay outside. That was quite a busy day and looked like fun too :)

Urban Smoothie Read said...

wat an educational trip u had there...n u're so lucky tat they actually dog-friendly

Huskee and Hershey said...

Hi Oscar,
That's A LOT of animals that you met in that one day!! (I don't think I like the iguana though.. he didn't look very friendly)..

Huskee and Hershey said...

Hi Oscar,
That's A LOT of animals that you met in that one day!! (I don't think I like the iguana though.. he didn't look very friendly)..

Snowball said...

Hi Oscar, Seems like you have miss out on loads of yummy food... Poor littler dude. Did mummy make it up to you with other yummy treats? I hope she did.

Btw, the stuffies dun look too clean so I have not even attempt to sniff at it. Not even once since they arrive.

Luv,
Snowball

coco said...

i'm pooped just reading about your busy weekend! what fun you had at that zoo place!! i think i would have been scared a lot there! but you are much more brave than i - i hope i'm more like you when i grow up!

your little E & J are the cutest!! you're so lucky to have two girls to play with!

wiggly kisses, coco

Ferndoggle said...

Some of those animals are very scary! Especially the big rhinos.

Lola

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