A day at the zoo....ATTICA Zoo Park

[husky_jim]

I just had a visit at the Attica Zoo Park near Athens and took some pics...Sorry no fish there but i really enjoyed playing with the lemurs...

I don't know how this called...



Brown female bear...


Coati....



Emu...


Flower...


Pair of Jaguars...


Lemurs fan!!!











Bufos or Bubo bubo!


Tucan!


All pics where taken with my 'old rusty' Canon EOS 400D and with the 24-105mm IS 4L.

I hope you liked!

[MatsP]

The first animal is a "Ground squirrel", aka "Gopher".

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Mats

[L number Banana]

Beautiful pictures on 'old rusty'!

I have the gophers in my yard but I also have the great horned owls so therefore not as many gophers...
Would trade them for the lemurs or jags

[andywoolloo]

first picture looks like a prairie dog to me.

awesome pics !!!

oh no wait #2 is prairie dog

the jaguar and the flower are cool.

[MatsP]

I'm pretty sure that "Prairie dog" and "gopher" are partial synonyms - they both refer to "Ground Squirrels" of some sort or another, but I'm not sure they are exactly the same thing.

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Mats

[zenyfish]

Not to be overly technical here, but prairie dog and gopher are different animals. I have an advantage since I have gophers in my yard

Also emu above is not an emu. Here's an emu as I know it:

[Shane]

Not to be overly technical here, but prairie dog and gopher are different animals.

The joy of common names... The first animal is what I grew up calling a rockchuck aka yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) (Barbie will know all about rockchucks). Gophers to me were very small, but there are about 40 members of the family. The ground squirrel I grew up with was brown and looked like a normal squirrel but they dig nasty burrow entrances. Then again there are six genera worth of "ground squirrels" and I am sure the differences between them as are important to "squirrel nuts" as the difference between Hypancistrus and Panaque are to us. They were the enemy on our ranch as their holes are the exact size of a horse hoof and horses would break their leg if they stepped in one. This led to my many hours of target practice with a .22 rifle, but that is another story.
While visiting Jools he pointed out some mistletoe to me in his garden. You would think mistletoe was universal, but what he showed me was not what a person from the Americas would recognize as mistletoe. A little research turned up the fact that there are 73 genera and 900 spp (!) of mistletoe. That is a lot of kissing.
Great photos!
-Shane
PS marmot are known as varmit (or varmint) in many American dialects. This might be a combination of vermin (pest) and marmot as marmots are seen as disease carriers (like rats in Europe). Hence the American term, "You yellow-bellied varmit."

[Jools]

Of course, I could have misidentified the mistletoe, which would explain quite a few awkward moments at Christmas parties past.

Jools

[Birger]

This led to my many hours of target practice with a .22 rifle, but that is another story.

Hehe...pastime of many a young lad...sunny day, hillside, case of beer(or two) and guns...quite the combination

[Viktor Jarikov]

local ground squirrels vary from small chipmunks to large fat groundhogs aka woodchucks - the latter dig impressive holes, with entrances wide enough not only for a horse but also for a human or a big foot to break a leg...