ZOOTOGRAPHY 3 (Click for link)

Behold the hippopotamus! We laugh at how he looks to us,
And yet in moments dank and grim,
I wonder how we look to him.
Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus!
We really look all right to us,
As you no doubt delight the eye
Of other hippopotami.

— Ogden Nash, "The Hippopotamus"

I took another class at The Zoo Northwest Florida yesterday and had the good fortune to get up close and personal with one of the resident hippos. This guy was all about lunch, which gave us photographers a great view of those amazing teeth and his very large mouth.

Here he comes answering the call to lunch.

Open wide...

Here comes a juicy green apple. Nice catch. Yum!

More please.

A carrot! Is that the best you can do.

If that's all that's on the menu, I'm outta here!

While watching the hippo's antics, I almost missed several dragonflies resting on the duckweed. Their coloring and the transparency of their wings provide them with awesome camoflage.

Sharing the pond with our hungry Hippo, was a small flock of these lovely Egyptian geese.

Here are a few of the other residents at the Zoo, who made great subjects for my camera.

Of course I had to visit my favorite little friends--the lemurs. Don't you just love the attitude?

Are you lookin at me?

These black swans swim gracefully in their ponds and look so serene. But signs caution you to keep you hands away because these lovely creatures like to BITE!

Meet Patrick. His brother Zeke was relaxing up in the tree. Poor Pat--he seems to have an itch he can't reach.

I don't remember the name of this fine feathered fellow, but he looked a little rumpled--sort of like a bad case of bed head.

And finally, there is lovely flora at the Zoo as well as the amazing fauna. It's a great place to take a camera, or just to walk around with your own thoughts and commune with nature.