Couldn't Do Anything, So We Went To The Zoo

     Tam and I went to the zoo today, only barely ahead of the rain -- it began to pour down as we approached the Oceans building, last stop on our trip before exiting though the Gift Shop.

     The very first creature encountered could be heard barking a long way off -- one of the graceful pinnipeds, cruising around the enclosure with the others and raising a ruckus.

     Why?  We're not sure, but we think he's a tattletale:

     The very largest of the brood (it's an assortment of rescued seals and sea lions) had snuck over the edge and was napping on the warm concrete of the dry moat between them and the visitors!  Tam and I asked the ticket-booth agent about this.  "Oh, he does that all the time.  It's all right."  --it's not like anyone is going to lift him back in like a kitten into a basket.  That's a whole lot of seal.

     Fruit bats, as it turns out, just love salad.  They love it enough to fight over it.

    The result looks like cats fencing with umbrellas!  --Or perhaps small dogs.  They have small-dog faces but move more like cats.
     (Not shown: smaller, straw-colored bats, all but one of whom had collected into a tight group and were being hectored by the remaining bat.  I checked for insignia or a clerical collar; didn't see any.)

     Hey, here's an idea: ducks on stilts.  Bright pink ducks on stilts, who stand on their heads to eat!

     Even the flamingos have their doubts.

     Cheetahs: so fast, they can show up twice in the same photo!

     Tigers, the big ones, are getting sleepy....

     Sleepy...

     Meanwhile:

     Yowza!  That one is about the size of my head!

     Captain Nemo, the early years:

Future marine biologist and/or fisherman

     Where's Nemo?  (The other one):

Not actually Nemo.  Also, these critters have kinda freaky, PG-13 rated lives, really.

     This is going to confuse the fruit bats if they see it.

     The seahorse: a pipefish that grows on trees?
 
     Tam shoots a bear:

     In the Deserts dome, there are strategically placed heat lamps. Tortises like to bask under them. Lizards find there's nothing quite like a warm tortise on a chilly afternoon.  The terrapin had no comment:

     En route to the Indianapolis Zoo from downtown, we passed the Old Trails building, one of the few examples of Native American Deco architecture, ever:

     I'm told the faces are modeled on actual (as they said at the time) Indians.  PC or not, it's an architectural treasure.