More zoo photos
28 July 2003 12:09![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
denThese are the last ones, I promise.
This boring bird is a male mallee fowl. He looks identical to the female mallee fowl, in fact it's almost impossible to tell them apart until breeding time. The male cares for the eggs. (I bet you were thinking something else.) He doesn't just do the boring "sit until they're hatched" thing, he builds instead a huge mound of sand, dirt and sticks, and at its core is a pile of rotting compost on which the female lays the eggs. That's it, as far as she's concerned. The male carefully covers over the nest, then spends the next 8 weeks regulating the temperature inside by varying the amount of dirt piled over the eggs. Warmth is provided by the rotting compost and the male has a temperature sensor on his beak. He pokes it in... too warm? Remove some covering. Too cold? Pile it on. When he hears the chicks cheeping, he mostly uncovers the nest and wanders off. THe chicks hatch, dig their way out, and have to fend for themselves. They can fly as soon as they're dry.
Black swans were first seen in Western Australia, but they're all over the country.
Pelicans are found anywhere there is a large body of water with a cafe standing beside it.
They're quite large, standing 1 metre high, and can be intimidating.
The zoo has a few ornimental birds, too. The peacock had absolutely no luck displaying to the peahens, so he displayed to the humans and was awarded a round of applause and a shower of hot chips. He ate some before the ibis (on the terrace in the background) chased him off.
And finally, a shot of the view from the Cafe, looking across the pond and Lemure Island and up to the macropods, meerkats and wombat enclosures.
This boring bird is a male mallee fowl. He looks identical to the female mallee fowl, in fact it's almost impossible to tell them apart until breeding time. The male cares for the eggs. (I bet you were thinking something else.) He doesn't just do the boring "sit until they're hatched" thing, he builds instead a huge mound of sand, dirt and sticks, and at its core is a pile of rotting compost on which the female lays the eggs. That's it, as far as she's concerned. The male carefully covers over the nest, then spends the next 8 weeks regulating the temperature inside by varying the amount of dirt piled over the eggs. Warmth is provided by the rotting compost and the male has a temperature sensor on his beak. He pokes it in... too warm? Remove some covering. Too cold? Pile it on. When he hears the chicks cheeping, he mostly uncovers the nest and wanders off. THe chicks hatch, dig their way out, and have to fend for themselves. They can fly as soon as they're dry.Black swans were first seen in Western Australia, but they're all over the country.
Pelicans are found anywhere there is a large body of water with a cafe standing beside it.
They're quite large, standing 1 metre high, and can be intimidating.
The zoo has a few ornimental birds, too. The peacock had absolutely no luck displaying to the peahens, so he displayed to the humans and was awarded a round of applause and a shower of hot chips. He ate some before the ibis (on the terrace in the background) chased him off.
And finally, a shot of the view from the Cafe, looking across the pond and Lemure Island and up to the macropods, meerkats and wombat enclosures.
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Date: 28 Jul 2003 19:23 (UTC)Oh, sorry. Must be the "bloke genes" kicking in. :)
Scott