I already wrote about some of the local drinks we’ve been enjoying over these past few months, it’s time to move on to animals! Most of which have had their existence proven by science.
Back in April I made one of my standard pilgrimages to the San Francisco Zoo, where we’re members. This time we went with my sister and law and her husband, and the highlight of the visit for me was finally seeing little Jasiri, the lion cub. He was a bit hard to make out, hidden under the shade of a bush, but I was able to find him, near his mother Sukari.
Jasiri and Sukari
We made our usual stops, visiting the rescued sea lions, the grizzly sisters frolicking in their pool and of course to penguin island. I also got my first look at Claudia, the Andean Condor who recently became a resident there. I’ll have to go back soon, they opened up their new Mexican gray wolf exhibit in June and their Sifaka Lemur exhibit opens in a week.
Rainbow at Penguin Island
More photos from that visit to the San Francisco Zoo here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/sets/72157666612834551
During the same visit to San Francisco, the four of us also made our way up to Sausalito to visit the The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC). It’s one of our favorite organizations, and following our donation this year they reached out to us to offer a tour, which we decided to take advantage of while we had family in town.
The volunteer spent about an hour with us, walking us through the public areas, including the holding pens where we saw the elephant seals being fed, a lab where they were doing blood analysis, their “fish kitchen” where they prepare food for the animals and over to their public autopsy area. He also demonstrated for us how they go about capturing the animal, joking that “everything is a seal, and everything is about 100 lbs” when people call in reports. In reality, they also rescue many sea lions as well and most of the animals are quite a bit heftier and powerful than the 100 lbs claim suggests.
We then went behind the scenes. The site is owned by the US government and the organization is granted use of what is actually and old missile facility. Part of the massive filtration system for all their tanks and pools is now located where they used to store missiles. Fortuitously, we also got to see a truck coming in with some newly rescued patients. A baby harbor seal was among the rescues, who we got to see unloaded and nearly broke my heart when he cried his “maaa” cry. He’s in excellent hands though, they do really great work there.
Picture taking behind the scenes was limited, but I do have several more photos The Marine Mammal Center here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/albums/72157664556780964
Finally, I made a visit to a more… elusive critter. After giving an Ubuntu presentation at Felton LUG a few months ago, I took the opportunity of being in Felton to visit the Bigfoot Discovery Museum right down the street. It was amusing, but completely coincidental, that this visit came on the heels of my visit just weeks before to the International Cryptozoology Museum in Maine. It’s true that I’m terribly fascinated by the search for cryptids like bigfoot, but the skeptic in me won’t get me much further than fascination until there’s more solid evidence.
This museum walks you through the evidence that does exist, including various footprint casts, an analysis of the famous Patterson–Gimlin film and maps of reported sightings throughout northern California. There’s also nearly a full room devoted to the pop culture around the creatures, from toys to movie posters. The proprietor was enthusiastic about sharing stories with visitors about sightings and the evidence that exists, and hearing his enthusiasm for his work was alone worth the visit for me.
More photos from the museum here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/albums/72157670265156315