Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Dogs and Cats and Meerkats


Here are some more pictures from The Living Desert. 
Like domestic dogs, the favorite activity of wolves seems to be sleeping. The coyote was also asleep in his den so I was unable to get a picture of him.
And the fox was asleep on top of his (or her) dog house.

The cats, on the other hand, were awake. Awake and sharpening their claws.

This handsome fellow with the luxurious ear tufts is an African Lynx.
 
 

 

They have a whole bunch of meerkats. And there will soon be more.

Warning: meerkat pornography below.
Apparently, meerkats "do it" like dogs.  This was about 10 minutes into the activity (yes, I watched) when the female got tired of the whole thing and just laid down.  A human mother with a child stopped by the exhibit as  I was remarking on the similarity.  In a scolding voice, she said "I have a 3-year-old here."  Well, ok.  But neither "do", nor "it", nor "dog" is exactly a ribald word.  The mother went on to explain to her child that the animals were "cuddling".  Great.  So her son can in the future become one of those men who think that all cuddling must lead to sex.
The cutest animal at the zoo had to be the sand cat.  I didn't manage any decent pictures of her.  If Tom has one, I will share it later.