Happy Friday, everyone! And since the weekend is very nearly here, I thought you might be tantalised by a post about the weirder things we encountered on our recent visit to Frankfurt Zoo! Buuuuut if you want to start out slow, don’t worry – you can catch up with the cute fuzzies from Tuesday’s post here.
So, we left Explorer Beastie and his new friend Rose the Pink Unicorn here…
Where to next? Let’s see what we can find under the waves… Dive dive dive!
Hey look – WE FOUND NEMO!
Frankfurt Zoo has a really great aquarium and reptile house… Alas, the light levels were too low for my long-suffering camera! If you’re in desperate need of some fishy pics, our recent snaps from Düsseldorf Aquazoo should help to tide you over.
Time to resurface! And back on dry land, a feathered friend hinted at what we should go to look at next.
There are heaps of exotic birds living here – some of them in free-flight aviaries you can actually walk through! Here are a few of our favourite sightings… An elegant red-crowned crane, a shy cassowary and a brightly-coloured bee-eater!
But hey, I promised you weirdness! And although these boat-billed herons definitely look like they’re plotting something sinister…
…They’re no match for the mighty marabou stork!
These massive, cadaverous-looking birds might not be winning any beauty contests, but they’ve a long association with the world of high fashion. You see, for many years, their delicate fluffy down (called “marabou”) was coveted as a trimming for the most glamorous evening wear and saucy lingerie! Not only is it soft and fuzzy, it’s naturally white and takes dye really well, too.
Of course, the downside of this for the marabou stork was that it almost literally became a fashion victim. Fortunately, a shift towards synthetic marabou, or using similar feathers harvested from domesticated turkeys, has helped them to bounce back. Hurrah!
Moving on from the aviaries, we met some more unusual creatures – an entire family of baboons, who had come inside to shelter from a passing rainstorm.
It was the first time either of us had seen a hamadryas baboon, and Explorer Beastie thought they were really strange. Mind you, from the look the big male on the left is shooting at us, I reckon he thinks the same about us!
And while these guys were all safely behind glass (thank goodness! You should have seen the size of their teeth), in another section of the primate house, we encountered a daring escape artist!
“You ain’t seen me, right?”
This lemur had somehow found him/herself outside the enclosures where the other lemurs were nonchalantly going about their day. Since there were staff about, we figured this separation was intentional… But that didn’t stop us being really surprised at first!
Oh, and then Explorer Beastie got distracted by the “most dangerous animal” exhibit, which he completely misunderstood and used as a photo op.
Then again, the idea of being a dangerous animal didn’t seem to faze him that much. He wanted one of these signs for himself.
Right, time for you to mellow out a bit! Let’s go and visit the gorillas.
One of them even came to hang out with us for their lunch break!
But by the time we left the great apes, those scattered rain showers had become a steady downpour. We took shelter in the nocturnal house… Yes, definitely shelter! We totally weren’t hiding from this guy.
Nope, not terrifying in the slightest.
But even the giant screaming bat couldn’t frighten the rain away. In fact, it got even heavier! So we decided to head for home. For some of the zoo’s inhabitants though, it seemed to be a refreshing end to a long hot day at work!
Thanks for joining us on our whirlwind tour of the Zoo! And if you’ve any plans to hang out with furred or feathered friends over the weekend, be sure to let us know in the comments!
We’ll be back on Tuesday with more from Frankfurt, so don’t forget to join us then… Have a super weekend!
What’s the hurry? Well, we had plans to eat in 
Although I was sorely tempted to hide away in Nancy’s for the rest of the day, and sample some more of their delicious house cider, Explorer Beastie reminded me that we had planned to see more than just the inside of a pub. We also had others to consider – we were tagging along with my brother and Alfie the wonder dog, and at least one of them was due for walkies! So we headed off in the direction of Glencolmcille, to enjoy the cliff walk just outside the village and see some spectacular views.
It was still pretty blustery here though – as you can see! Poor Explorer Beastie was literally bent over backwards by the stiff sea breeze, and nearly lost his backpack to a particularly strong gust!
… And this pastime seems to be something he shares with his woolly cousins. How did they get up there?
… And with one last look back…
Explorer Beastie was tempted to freewheel down twisty Fishamble Street on this greenery-bedecked bicycle, but fortunately I was able to talk him out of it. Let’s just walk the rest of the way, perhaps?
And sure enough, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves in the narrow cobbled streets of Temple Bar!
And look… There they are!
The Beasties will be guests at Cow’s Lane Designer Studio for at least the next month, so if you’re in the area, please do pop in and say hello! All of them are eager to meet you, and maybe find their forever home!
Ta-daaaaah! The people have spoken, and they’ve come out in favour of a calendar gap year. Although I reckon I’ll really have to deliver on my promise to get something bigger, brighter and better together for 2019! It’s also interesting that the idea of abandoning the calendar altogether was the least popular option – I’ve been happy to discover that I’m not the last person on earth who depends one of these primitive devices to stop my world from descending into chaos!