Camera Critters

Each Saturday Misty hosts Camera Critters. Be sure you visit! It's a wonderful place for critter lovers.

Back to the Japanese Garden in Hermann Park.

We rounded a corner to view the Tea House and found this little guy.

We kept looking and found his friend.

By the time we walked all the way around the lake near the Tea House we had found seven Black-crowned Night Herons ... all little statues ... standing very still, quiet, beautiful.

Last week there was an article in our little neighborhood newspaper about Black-crowned Night Herons and Yellow-crowned Night Herons nesting in a neighborhood near Hermann Park where the Japanese Garden is located. I think Mr. Dragon and I will go heron hunting this weekend!

More critters in the Japanese Garden next week!

Camera Critters

Camera Critters is hosted every Saturday by the lovely Misty. Be sure you visit!

Last week Mr. Dragon and I decided to visit the Japanese Garden in Hermann Park.

It was a beautiful afternoon. Little humidity.

On the way to the Japanese Garden we saw a few feathered critters.

A couple of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks with friend.

Black-Bellied Whistling Duck

I have a story for you about the Whistlers. Last year Mom Whistler made her nest in the sculpture garden at the Museum of Fine Arts -- several very long blocks from this lake. When her eggs hatched, several birders at the museum kept an eye on the youngsters and one day were able to capture them and take them to the lake at Hermann Park. They figured Mom could and would fly over, but the youngsters would never make it across the streets to water. I'd like to think that the Whistlers we saw are those same babes all grown up.

Inside the gates of the Japanese Garden we found this little guy.

He has a white tail ... cotton tail perhaps.

This little bunny was smaller than the first. A little family.

More critters in the Japanese Garden next week!

Happy Critter Day!

Camera Critters

It's Camera Critters time! Misty is our lovely hostess. Be sure you visit!

Here's more of the Houston Zoo and Photography Morning with one of my favorite kitties ---

the beautiful cheetah.

"You again? Here I am. Beautiful as usual."

"Is that breakfast I see in your hand? Let me get closer."

Have a wonderful day!

Joy to You on Critter Day!

Camera Critters

Camera Critters is hosted each Saturday by the lovely Misty.
Be sure you visit!

I haven't posted anything about our little Miss Riley in sometime.
I thought today I'd bring you up-to-date.

Riley was Mr. Rocky's litter mate. If you remember, Rocky died of a sudden heart attack.
On Riley's regular visit to the vet, he spent extra time with her and found a heart murmur.

She had an echocardiogram and has a little thin sided heart that has trouble beating.
It is probably the most difficult of the heart conditions to treat.

Right now she is doing fine. She's on two medications that have to be specially compounded into tuna flavored treats. Believe it or not, she quite enjoys her *treats* twice a day.

Here is the little Miss in the bedroom we call the studio.

Miss Riley with one her best friends, Raggedy Ann!

We don't know how long we will be blessed with her presence.
She's a little doll we call the Impress!

Happy Critter Day!

Camera Critters

Today is a very special day at Camera Critters.

Today Misty celebrates two very successful years sharing critters from around the world.

Be sure you visit.

I decided to put together a mosaic of some of the critters I have shared on Camera Critter day.

My first post with Camera Critters was in January 2009 and it was of our dear little dumpling boy, Rocky. I've given the place of honor in the mosaic to Rocky. We were blessed with his presence for three years. I wish he had been with us for many more years. He taught us a lot about love and, Rocky, we are still learning and miss you every day.

Big kitties, little kitties, animals from the Houston Zoo, birds in Musashi's Garden ... just a few of the critters I've shared with you.

Misty, happy two years and here's to many, many more!

Camera Critters

Camera Critters is hosted each Saturday by the lovely Misty.

Be sure to visit to see all the other critters!

More from Photography Day in February at Houston Zoo.

A new baby Guenon Monkey named Nagano.

Nagano and his Mom, Bongo, kept us entertained.

I would have stood on my head to get photos of this sweet face!

Too cute! (Even with the bars.)
The exhibit is really quite large (lots of trees) and they move around quickly.

MOM! The crazy lady with the camera is still here.

The crazy man with the camera got this shot.

Love their markings and they look so soft.

Welcome to the world, Nagano!

Guenon monkeys are from Sub-Saharan Africa and are forest monkeys.
They are threatened or endangered because of habitat loss.

Camera Critters

Our lovely hostess for Camera Critters is Misty.

Be sure you go and visit the other critters!

Lovely young lady, isn't she?
All of these shots were taken at the February Photography Morning at the Houston Zoo.

She posed for a long time.
I think she thought we were all nuts!
But then, she is a thing of beauty.

The reflection is one of our favorite shots.
A portrait of two ladies.

Happy Critter Day!

Camera Critters

The hostess for Camera Critters is the lovely Misty. Be sure you visit.

I do love kitties. Here are a few shots of some large cats.

Photography morning at the Houston Zoo with the Lion Pride.

This is Johnathan and I believe I've introduced him to you before.

Cali and Johnathan. Cali is the last from the original pride. She is in her late teens.

Handsome couple, aren't they?!
Cali is finally putting up with the youngster, Johnny.

I wonder if she saw something in the crowd she wanted for lunch?

Because of Cali's age, three new, young girls have been added to the pride.
Here are two of them playing tug-of-war with their keepers at the training window.
The girls are about 18 months old.
They were given treats (large bones) after their play.

Camera Critters

Camera Critters is hosted each Saturday by the lovely Misty.

I'd like you to meet a Patas monkey from the Houston Zoo.

The Patas monkey is probably the fastest primate on earth, its long legs giving it a tremendous loping stride. Speeds reach up to 35 mph. They are highly terrestrial spending most of their time on the ground. The species has a wide distribution in the savanna and woodlands areas across sub-Saharan Africa from the western tip of Senegal to East Africa.

The conservation of patas monkeys is critical because of their already small population size, limited geographic range and the current destruction of their habitats. Hunting by humans has increased progressively, especially in West Africa. Hunters kill patas monkeys for meat in the Ivory Coast. The mountain Nuba people and tribal groups also hunt patas monkeys. Many farmers and plantation owners shoot these monkeys when they raid their crops. Patas monkeys are collected and sold as pets or they are sold to medical research institutions. Over 1000 patas monkeys are collected per year.

I think I'm in love!

Happy Critter Day!

Camera Critters

It's Saturday and that means Camera Critters time!

The lovely Misty is our hostess for Critters. Be sure to visit!

Back to the Houston Zoo and giraffe feeding.

I'm not too sure about feeding this guy, Dad.
He seems friendly enough.

Grandpa gets into the act.

Mom seems to like feeding the giraffes.

Let me think about this.
He looks friendly enough.

Let's go for it!

Joy to You!

Camera Critters

Misty is our wonderful hostess for Camera Critters.
Be sure to go and visit.

Today I want to show you the portrait of the animal I fell in love with many years ago on my very
first visit to the Houston Zoo-
the beautiful and shy Okapi.

The okapi (pronounced oh-COP-ee) is an unusual animal. With its white-and-black striped hindquarters and front legs, it looks like it must be related to zebras! But take a look at an okapi’s head and you’ll notice a resemblance to giraffes.

The okapi is indeed the only living relative of the giraffe. Like giraffes, okapis have very large, upright ears, which catch even slight sounds, helping them to avoid trouble. They also have long, dark prehensile tongues, just like a giraffe’s, to help them strip the buds and young leaves from the understory brush of their rain forest home.

Okapis are hard to find in the wild. Their natural habitat is the Ituri Forest, a dense rain forest in central Africa (northeast region of Democratic Republic of Congo - formerly Zaire). Okapis are very wary, and their highly developed hearing alerts them to run when they hear humans in the distance. In fact, while natives of the Ituri Forest knew of okapis and would occasionally catch one in their pit traps, scientists did not know of the animal until 1900. The secretive nature of okapis and the difficulty most humans have of traveling in their habitat have made okapis hard to observe in the wild. Therefore, researchers can only estimate how many okapis live there. It is believed that there are currently about 25,000 okapis in the wild.

The okapi’s dark purplish or reddish brown fur feels like velvet. It’s also oily, so water slides right off, keeping the okapi dry on rainy days. Only the males have horns, which are covered by skin and are short so they won’t get tangled in forest branches.

The changing politics of central Africa and the continued loss of habitat threaten the beautiful okapi. Fortunately, in 1952, one-fifth of okapi habitat in Africa’s Ituri Forest was set aside as a wildlife reserve. The Okapi Wildlife Reserve, with support from zoos and conservation organizations, and the local people, continues to protect and to support study of this rare and unusual forest dweller.

Happy Camera Critters!

(Information about the Okapi from the San Diego Zoo.)

Camera Critters

Misty is the hostess for Camera Critters.
Be sure you drop by to visit.

A couple of shots of a ring tailed lemur at the Houston Zoo.

Lemurs are primates found only on the African island of Madagascar and some tiny neighboring islands. Madagascar is home to many amazing animals found nowhere else on Earth. The Ring-tailed lemur, Lemur catta, is one of twenty-two species of lemurs. They share a common ancestry with Africa's monkeys and apes, but were isolated from those species probably 50 million years ago when Madagascar separated from the African continent.

The word Lemur comes from old Latin, and refers to ghosts or spirits. The staring eyes, haunting sounds, and nocturnal ways of the lemur inspired early observers to think of them as ghosts or forest spirits.

Ring-tailed lemurs are unmistakable because of their long, vividly striped, black-and-white tail. They are familiar residents of many zoos.

Lemurs use their hands and feet to move nimbly through the trees, but cannot grip with their tails as some of their primate cousins do. Ring-tailed lemurs also spend a lot of time on the ground, which is unusual among lemur species. They forage for fruit, which makes up the greater part of their diet, but also eat leaves, flowers, tree bark, and sap.

Ring-tailed lemurs have powerful scent glands and use their unique odor as a communication tool and even as a kind of weapon. Lemurs mark their territory by scent, serving notice of their presence to all who can smell. During mating season, male lemurs battle for dominance by trying to out stink each other. They cover their long tails with smelly secretions and wave them in the air to determine which animal is more powerful.

Ring-tailed lemurs live in groups known as troops. These groups may include 6 to 30 animals, but average about 17. Both sexes live in troops, but a dominant female presides over all.

Ring-tailed lemurs are endangered, largely because the sparse, dry forests they love are quickly vanishing.

Happy Saturday!
Joy to You!

Camera Critters

Misty is our wonderful hostess for Camera Critters.
Make sure you drop by to visit.


I call this series Teddy and his favorite things!

Teddy in the sun.

Teddy drinking from his favorite faucet.

Teddy with his favorite staff.
Just a little more to the right, please.

Happy Critter Day!

Joy to You!

Camera Critters Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year to all my Camera Critters friends.

The wonderful Misty brings Camera Critters to us each week.


This week I'm sharing some photos of THE grandson
feeding the giraffes at the Houston zoo -- mainly Myles.

It took awhile before THE grandson got comfortable,
but then he didn't want to stop

and Myles didn't want him to stop.

If you look carefully at this photo,
on Myles neck, near the top right,
one of his *spots* is heart shaped.
Too cool!
We'll always know which giraffe is Myles -- look for the heart!

Camera Critters

Misty brings us Camera Critters every Saturday.
Be sure to stop by and visit.


One of my favorite animals at the Houston Zoo
is the Wart Hog.
They are so funny and shy.

Neither graceful nor beautiful, warthogs are nonetheless remarkable animals. They are found in most of Africa south of the Sahara and are widely distributed in East Africa. They are the only pigs able to live in areas without water for several months of the year. By tolerating a higher-than-normal body temperature, the warthog is perhaps able to conserve moisture inside its body that might otherwise be used for cooling. (Camels and desert gazelles have developed a similar mechanism for survival in hot, arid environments.)

The warthog is a tough, sturdy animal. Males weigh 20 to 50 pounds more than females, but both are distinguished by disproportionately large heads and “warts”—thick protective pads that appear on both sides of the head. The warthog's large tusks are unusual: The two upper ones emerge from the sides of the snout to form a semicircle; the lower tusks at the base of the uppers are worn to a sharp cutting edge. Sparse bristles cover the warthog's body, although longer bristles form a mane from the top of the head down the spine to the middle of the back. The long tail ends with a tuft of bristles. The warthog characteristically carries its tail upright when it runs, the tuft waving like a tiny flag.

Diet
The warthog is mainly a grazer and has adapted an interesting practice of kneeling on its calloused, hairy, padded knees to eat short grass. Using its snout and tusks, it also digs for bulbs, tubers and roots during the dry season. They may eat earthworms and other small invertebrates during the wet season.

Predators and Threats
Outside of protected areas, the warthog’s range is declining. They are killed for raiding wheat, rice, bean or groundnut fields. People in some agricultural areas also eliminate warthogs as they can carry African swine fever.

(Wart Hog information from awf.org)

Camera Critters

It's Camera Critters time!
Misty is our wonderful hostess over at Camera Critters.
Be sure to visit.

Another visit to the Houston Zoo.
This time to see the Spectacled Bear.

The Andean or spectacled bear of South America gets one of its common names from the rings of white or light fur around its eyes, which look like eyeglasses (or spectacles) against the rest of the black or dark brown fur. These markings often extend down the chest, giving each bear a unique appearance (and helping researchers identify bears by their "mug shots!"). The markings also give the bear its scientific name: Tremarctos ornatus, or decorated bear.

Normally diurnal, very little is known about these bears in the wild. They are shy, tend to avoid humans.

The habitat of the Andean bear is being destroyed for mining operations, farming, and lumber. The construction of new roads fragments bear habitat as well. As their habitat shrinks, bears may stray onto farmland, feeding on the crops that replaced their natural diet. These bears have been hunted in the past for their meat, fat, and body parts, but they are now protected from international trade.

The Andean bear is one of the flagship species of national parks in the Andes. This means that the bear, an animal that people recognize easily, is used as the symbol of the parks. Local people in bear habitats are being educated about the benefits of preserving habitat for the bears for tourism, for the protection of water sources, and for the natural heritage of future generations.

Camera Critters

It's Saturday and it's Camera Critters time!

Off to the Houston Zoo again
and a visit to one of my favorite lemurs
and one of the Zoo's newest:
the Coquerel Sifaka.




The Houston Zoo is one of only a handful of places in the world where you can see this highly endangered primate from Madagascar, made famous by the PBS television series Zoboomafoo, featuring the Kratt brothers and their Coquerel's sifaka, (cock-er-al's she-fak) mascot.

Sifaka differ from other lemurs in the way they move, using a form of locomotion called vertical clinging and leaping. They leap in an upright position from one vertical branch or trunk to another, using their powerful back legs to propel them over twenty feet in one jump. When they move on the ground, they skip or bound on their hind legs. They look like they are jumping with a pogo stick (remember those?)!

Sifakas are plant-eaters. Leaves are their favorite food, and make up most of their diet in the dry season (along with tree bark). In the wet season these primates also eat fruits and flowers. They find much of their food in the treetops, but also occasionally search for food on the ground.
When eating, sifakas rarely use their hands to handle their meal. Instead, they usually grab the food directly with their mouth. The Houston Zoo's sifakas have a favorite treat -- the chickpea or garbanzo bean. They love them.

Like many other types of sifaka, the Coquerel's sifaka is in danger of extinction in the wild. These animals suffer from continued habitat loss, as their forest homes are logged for timber and turned into farmland.

Here's a video from You Tube and the Houston Zoo: