Lots of Alligators

Ok, to make up for our swamp trip having like, .10 of one alligator, here are a bunch of 'em.

 This one is both exceptionally old and exceptionally fat. He only had about half his teeth--he is around 85.

 The white alligators are my favorite! The Audubon zoo has two, and the New Orleans Aquarium has one. Most white zoo alligators are from the same nest, which means if you've seen one in, say, San Francisco or Boston, it's the sibling of these here. They are not albino, but leucistic ("loosistic"), like white tigers. They have blue eyes.

 Did you know gators scratch their itchy heads with their back feet, like puppies? Well, they do. This gator was very interactive and interested in us. The other one just slept.

 You can ride a gator at the carousel, except it was out of order. This is a great carousel, though. If this was a real gator its tail would be half its body length (see above). I think alligators are fascinating--they're like... swamp dragons. They also had some foot-long hatchlings, but I didn't get pictures for some reason. They were cute.

Trip to the Zoo

 This cool Angkor Wat-style building is from the 1920s-- a lot of the buildings are much newer, but there are a few holdovers.

 The carousel was very photogenic. Aren't they always?

 This is an orangutan READING A MAGAZINE. He was totally reading it, like methodically flipping through and looking at everything. I think someone may have tossed it in there.

And a disgruntled pelican. There are a lot of ponds and water birds.

My mom and I went to the Audubon Zoo on a beautiful, sunny day just before Halloween. It's a lovely zoo, one of the best in the country. Alas, it closes at 4, so we didn't quite get to see everything.