Fake Owls

[Merriweather]

They are fun toys. When I was about 6 or 7, a nice billy goat and I had a head butting contest. the poor attendant was worried he'd get yelled at by my mom, but she just told him 'That girl has a hard head.' That was true. I won the contest.
And she yelled at me 'Teskeria, leave the poor goat alone!' He followed me all around the enclosure. We both had a great time (the goat and I).

I think I have more photos of my daughter with goats than anything else. Seemed that every petting zoo in existence in the 70's & 80's had tons of them, and she loved them. Back then, they were a bit more relaxed about interaction than now. I recall one small petting zoo we used to go to, had the cutest little pygmy goat. He was adorable, and about the size of a terrier, really tiny. At one point they posted a sign not to pick him up. I was talking to one of the workers, and they were quite apologetic about it, but explained that they had to insist people stop picking him up, as he was picked up so often, he was starting to refuse to walk. If he wanted to go somewhere, he'd just approach a guest, wait to be picked up, and wait for them to carry him somewhere else

[Lace Neil Singer]

At the country park where I used to work, the animal farm at one point had a collection of birds of prey, cuz of the guy who used to come and do displays. There were three barn owls, one eagle owl, one tawny owl and two peregrines.

The amount of times I had to stop visitors poking the owls with sticks, cuz they weren't moving... and to explain to said cretins that owls were nocturnal, so that's why they were asleep. Once a dim bulb poked one of the peregrines; it yanked the stick out of her hands and flew at the front of its cage. She screamed the place down.

[Cat]

I've seen people looking around wondering if someone's being murdered everytime I go to the zoo. Why? Because of the siamangs. They are pretty much Howler monkeys. And they are LOUD.

There is a fur seal at the New England Aquarium named Cordova who is very loud. One time, people in the area thought someone was drowning near the docks, so they called the police, coast guard, etc. The aquarium told them, "No, that just our crazy fur seal."

Fun walking around near there and hearing her

[XCashier]

Well, the teenagers that stuck his fingers into the Leadbeaters Cockatoo enclosure sure did get some schooling.

That Leadbeaters was notorious for killing squirrels. And we'd warned the kid.

Is it wrong of us that we laughed when we heard the kid screaming?

Not in my book. Someone tells you to not do something and you do it anyway, you deserve precisely what you get. If you insist upon doing what you know is wrong and/or stupid, you shouldn't be surprised if you get hurt/in trouble.

some people threw rocks at them. And one of the gorillas got sick of it, and picked up one of the weapons that had been so helpfully thrown at him (a rock) and threw it back.

Adult male silverbacks are strong. And have good aim.

Ah, to have had a video camera at that exact moment...

I have no sympathy at all for animal abusers or the deliberately stupid. They deserve what they get, and more.

[Amanita]

Lace, you should check this out:
http://falcons.55water.com/
The falcons who nest at this office tower are known for attitude- one past resident female is said to have knocked one of the building's engineering staff on his butt for getting too close to the nest! And when there's peregrine young there, the things are just too freaking cute for words- big white fluffballs!

[Dreamstalker]

Oh, cool! I didn't know there was a website...

[Lace Neil Singer]

Peregrines are cool; the pair we had eventually went to a local bird of prey sanctuary for their retirement. XD

[Amanita]

And if you search for 55 water on flickr, you will find lots of large pics from the falcon chick bandings, including some impressive ones of a very pissed off momma-bird.

And here's some videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLWIGQ1Hf0U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=4pOMWkurvhg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4fO2...endscreen&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkEJv...eature=related

One of my favorite skyscrapers plus one of my favorite birds= PURE WIN

Edit- here's another showing the falcons being banded. Hoo boy, do they ever squawk! But they're so damn CUTE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vedr...endscreen&NR=1

[wolfie]

I have seen a man dangle his toddler over the tiger pit.

I keep misreading that; UK members will probably know what word I'm seeing instead... Barely a snack for the tiger, I'm sure.

But it was the only way he could get it into a "pussy".

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

A snowy owl was spotted in my neck of the woods recently. Originally it was mistaken for a plastic bag.

This apparently was a major event because snowy owls are seldom seen here. There was a write-up about it in the local newsrag.

[Lace Neil Singer]

And if you search for 55 water on flickr, you will find lots of large pics from the falcon chick bandings, including some impressive ones of a very pissed off momma-bird.

And here's some videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLWIGQ1Hf0U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=4pOMWkurvhg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4fO2...endscreen&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkEJv...eature=related

One of my favorite skyscrapers plus one of my favorite birds= PURE WIN

Edit- here's another showing the falcons being banded. Hoo boy, do they ever squawk! But they're so damn CUTE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vedr...endscreen&NR=1

I WANT ONE.

[Geek King]

Mmm... Now that is a great movie owl.

QFT. Some of Bluth & company's best work.

[Amanita]

In regards to the baby falcons-
ME TOO! Seriously, who can resist a big white fluffball? And even when they grow up, they're gorgeous. I wonder if 55 Water would send some of their next batch of hatchlings up here? We've certainly got a starling problem they could help with!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I've seen people looking around wondering if someone's being murdered everytime I go to the zoo. Why? Because of the siamangs. They are pretty much Howler monkeys. And they are LOUD.

woootwoootwoootwoot OH!OH!OH! You could set your watch by that at the zoo I worked at. Literally, you could.

Siamang worked over the guy I always ate lunch with when I worked over there. He was an ape keeper, and backed up too close to the bars in the backup (the hidden area when the keepers can enter the enclosure. It's a work area). Siamang reached through the bars, grabbed the back of his jacket and jerked him backwards into the bars so hard it damn near knocked him unconscious. He was banged up. It was like he'd been in a car accident.

We're talking about an animal that weighs in the neighborhood of thirty pounds, give or take. Apes are extremely powerful. Even the small ones.