TRAVEL WORDS

We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo

This month Becky’s Squares are focusing on odd things – you can interpret this any way you want so I am going to take you all to the zoo this month. San Diego Zoo to be precise and the photos featured will be either odd looking animals, animals with odd names, odd facts or slightly odd photos. I hope you’ll enjoy my selection.

Quite an odd date today too: 22/02/2022 which is a palindrome date, you can read it both forwards and backwards (at least in the UK). Day 22

The secretary bird’s English name was once thought to come from the 1800s, when Europeans first spotted these birds. Back then, male secretaries wore grey tailcoats and dark knee-length pants. They also used goose-quill pens that they carried behind their ears. This long-legged bird shares many of these same physical features: long, dark quills at the back of the head; long, grey wing and tail feathers that resemble a tailcoat; and black feathers that go midway down the legs like short pants.

We are into the last week of the ODD SQUARES month so please join in with Becky and the Square gang; the only rule is that the main photo MUST be a square – that is four equal sides! You have been warned 😉

We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Day 21

The pronghorn is native to North America. It has no close relative on this—or any other—continent. The horns of the pronghorn help make it unique: they are a cross between horns and antlers, with qualities of both. True antlers are made of bone and shed each year; true horns are made of compressed keratin that grows from a bony core and are never shed. The horns adorning the pronghorn are neither true horns nor true antlers. Instead, the sheath is made of keratin but the horns shed yearly. Pronghorn are the only animals in the world that have forked horns that shed each year!

We are entering into the last week of the ODD SQUARES month so please join in with Becky and the Square gang; the only rule is that the main photo MUST be a square – that is four equal sides! You have been warned 😉

We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Day 20

The Red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus) or bushpig is a wild member of the pig family living in Africa. Red river hogs are also called “tufted pigs” due to their long, white whiskers and tufts found on the ears. In male hogs, the elongated snout features two well-developed warts. These warts provide added protection from tusk damage during fights for dominance with other males. As in all wild pigs, the canine teeth extend to tusks.

Red river hogs can even swim underwater to escape from leopards, catching a breath every 15 seconds or so.

If you want to join in either daily, weekly or just on the odd occasion then please visit Becky, the only rule is that the main photo MUST be a square – that is four equal sides! You have been warned 😉

We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Day 19

The gerenuk, whose name means “giraffe-necked” in Somali, is an exceptionally long-necked antelope. Their head is small for their size, but their eyes and ears are large and I particularly like the pretty stripes inside their ears. Only the males have horns, which are stout and heavily ringed. They are found in the Horn of Africa and the drier parts of East Africa.

Because they can balance on two legs, they can use their front legs to reach and pull down branches up to eight feet (2.4 m) above ground.

We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Day 18

The Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby, formerly known as the ring-tailed rock-wallaby, is one of the most brightly coloured of all Australian mammals and is readily identified by its colouring and patterning. It moves easily around mountaintops, jumping as far as 13 feet (4 m) from rock to rock.

Wallabies are part of the large group of macropods / Macropodidae, means “big feet” the group includes kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, quokkas, pademelons, potoroos, honey possums, and tree kangaroos. In most species, the hind legs and feet are much larger and more powerful than the forelimbs. Their tail is long, muscular, and thick at the base, helping the kangaroo or wallaby balance and turn during hopping and providing support when it rests.