Tokyo – Ueno Zoo and the Best Sushi Ever

After visiting Senso-ji Temple, we continued on our journey to the Ueno Zoo!  Here we saw these delightful native monkeys – called Japanese macaques – frolicking in their habitat.  They were so cute!

Zachariah told us that near where he lives in Japan there are some hot springs, and these monkeys like to frequent the hot springs just like humans.  So if you’re going to visit the hot springs, it’s best to check it out before getting in to make sure you’re not accidentally getting in when the monkeys are using it as they don’t take too kindly to company!

We also saw giant pandas, kangaroos, reptiles and more.  Plus we got to ride this cool monorail train across part of the zoo.  Aren’t we a cute bunch of 5??

That evening we went out for sushi.  It was the best Mark and I have ever had – so fresh, so delicious.  Eileen doesn’t eat seafood, so she was probably a bit underwhelmed, but my mom decided to brave sushi for the first time and enjoyed it!

In my opinion, Mark’s dish was definitely the most beautiful, followed by Zachariah’s as a close second.  See what you think…

Such a delicious meal and a great way to end the day!!!  I can’t wait to go back for more… someday!

Sydney Series: Taronga Zoo, Part 2 – The Platypus

 As promised, today I’ll tell you all about our quest to see a platypus.  I thought it would be easy but as is often the case, it was more tricky than I anticipated.  The platypus is a sensitive, shy creature and very difficult to see in the wild – or even at the zoo.  It is not endangered but it is listed as “vulnerable” and it is protected by the Australian government.

When we arrived at Taronga, we first went to the Platypus House – a building that reverses the day/night tradeoff so that we would have any hope at all of seeing this nocturnal creature – and there were no platypuses.  Then we went to the Platypus Pools in a different part of the zoo – no luck.  Then we went to see the Tasmanian Devils and then we went back to the Platypus House. After waiting there for a few minutes, one dove into the tank and swam around eating happily.  We watched him (her?) for what felt like minutes but was really more like an hour before wandering on our merry way, quest completed.

Because these animals are so sensitive, they don’t do well in captivity.  There are only a few spots in Australia that have them and only two spots have been successful breeding them in captivity.  Taronga is one of them and the other is in Melbourne but both together have only bred less than 10 successfully in the last 50+ years.  Any time other zoos in other regions where platypuses don’t naturally live try to keep them, the platypus dies, so seeing them was pretty special!

I downloaded this picture off the internet since I didn’t get an up-close great one myself: 

The platypus is one of the most interesting animals on the planet because it is a sort of hodge podge of quite a few different animals.  You may be familiar with it’s look.  It has a duck bill and a body that is the combo of a beaver or an otter.  It is a mammal and has fur, but it also lays eggs!  I was taught in school that it was the only mammal that lays eggs – maybe you were too – but that’s not true.  The echidna, also an Australian animal, lays eggs too.  It looks more like a porcupine.

The platypus lives in both the water and on land.  In the water it has flaps that close over its eyes and nose so it can stay underwater for several minutes at a time.  It hunts in the water, using electrolocation – kind of like a shark – to find its prey.  In the water it has webbed feet and is a very effective swimmer.  Yet when it climbs out of water, the webbed part of its foot folds back and retracts and suddenly the platypus has little clawed paws perfect for burrowing and climbing as necessary.

On top of all this – on top of the fact that the platypus seems to be part beaver and otter and duck and shark – it is also adorable! What else can be said about the coolest animal in the world??_________________________________________________________________________

Similar to many creatures and natural phenomenon, the platypus is featured in several aboriginal stories.  There are two types of stories – one explains the platypus’s origin.  These stories are all slightly different but basically have a spirit combining together pieces of other animals to make the platypus or of a water rat and a duck mating.  The other type of story uses the unique nature of the platypus to note how all people and life forms are different but special in their unique way.  Here is my favorite of one of these stories:

Why The Platypus Is Unique

Many years ago there was a group of Australian animals arguing about who was the most unique.

The magpie started by saying that he was the most unique because he had the best colours, which were black and white, and that he could fly to the moon and back.

The emu had a different opinion. He believed he was the most unique animal because he was tall and his feathers were worth a small fortune.

The wombat disagreed with this. He said that he was the most unique because he was cute and cuddly and that everybody loved him.

The fish said that they were obviously the most unique because they could swim to Britain and back.

The crocodile then had his turn to contribute. His ability to lay eggs and swim, made him the most unique animal.

Next to speak was the Koala who said that because of his cuteness he was obviously the most unique animal.

The marsupials were represented by a wallaby who said that they were the most unique animal in the world because of their pouch.

At this point another animal joined the discussion group. It was a platypus.

All the other animals looked at her and then began to argue as to which group she belonged to.

The birds thought she belonged to their group because she had webbed feet, a bill, and laid eggs. The reptiles thought she was one of their own, because she laid eggs and wasn’t a bird because she didn’t have wings. The mammals disagreed. They believed she belonged to their group because she had fur and suckled her young. The fish said that she had to be a fish because she swam and found her food in the water.  The marsupials were the last to disagree. They said that because she was such an odd animal and because she cared for her young, she must belong to their group.

After all this debate, the platypus felt it was time for her to speak. She said that she could relate to each group of animals because of certain similarities, but that she didn’t belong to any of them. She went on to say that they were all different and because of that they were all unique. She finished by saying that she didn’t know why they were all different, but they should accept it and become friends.

After a short silence all the animals cheered. Happy in the knowledge that they were all unique.

Source of this story: http://www.thelostforests.com.au/Platypus-Story/Stories-Poems/Why-the-Platypus-is-unique-An-Aboriginal-Story.asp

Sydney Series: Taronga Zoo, Part 1

 Visiting the Taronga Zoo was one of my favorite things that we ended up doing in Sydney.  I felt a little guilty about going because it was pretty pricey and in many ways I expected it to be just your average zoo.  And I had no desire to go to an average zoo.  I didn’t care about seeing the lions or the elephants or the gorillas or any other animals that they had.  In fact, I didn’t care about seeing their typical Australian animals either – the kangaroos and koala bears are cute, but I have seen them a lot in Perth, so I didn’t need to see them in Sydney.

Yet there was one animal that I hadn’t yet seen in Perth and had learned via looking in Perth that the Taronga Zoo might be my one and only chance to see this fabulous creature – a platypus.  There are a few other spots in Australia that have platypuses, but none were places that we are, at this point in time, planning to visit.

But you’ll have to wait for Part 2 of this post to learn more about the platypus sighting 🙂  As it turned out, Taronga Zoo is one of the best zoos we’ve ever been to and we saw so many wonderful animals there!  In addition to this adorable koala bear (I couldn’t resist!), we also saw Tasmanian Devils!  They are nocturnal so the pictures we have are of them all sleeping in a bundle in their burrow.  Not too great in the picture department.  But they had a funny video of what they did during the night and it showed them jumping all over the place and running around like crazy.  It was pretty hilarious!

Then the most impressive… a komodo dragon! Before we went and saw this guy I would have told you that I had already seen a komodo dragon at some point in my life but after we got there I knew I had not. Whatever I was thinking of couldn’t compare to the komodo dragon.  It’s a little difficult to see in my picture, but this guy – and your average komodo dragon – is about 10 ft long and weighs about 330lbs.  We’re talking seriously large here.  And on top of being gigantic, it also is a meat eater that hunts dogs, wild pigs, and deer.  And it can swim 1-2 miles in the open ocean to get between islands in SE Asia.

If you are even remotely interested, I strongly recommend you check out the National Geographic site of info on this animal.  It goes into more detail about it’s bacteria venom saliva and has an awesome picture.

We loved, as usual, the reptile house and the nocturnal house and saw all sorts of snakes, iguanas, bats, rodents, etc. from the Australian continent.  And last but not least, the Taronga Zoo features a sky ride!  It was just like the old sky ride in San Antonio between the zoo and the Japanese Tea Gardens, but the little cars were enclosed and I’m sure the whole operation was a whole lot safer!  This sky ride went from the zoo entrance straight across the top of the zoo – so you could look down and see the elephants and stuff – to the dock where you catch the ferry back to the city.  I loved loved loved it – so we did it twice and then missed our ferry!  Oh well! 🙂

As you can see, the weather wasn’t perfect, but the view was pretty amazing up there!  You can’t see it in this picture, but you could see both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from up there.   And coming soon, Part 2, The Platypus….!!!

Perth Zoo

Recently Mark and I took advantage of a non rainy and non freezing or steaming Saturday to go visit the Perth Zoo.  I was hoping for a platypus and he was hoping for some crazy poisonous reptiles and unfortunately we were both disappointed.  That said, we really enjoyed the Zoo anyway and our favorites ended up being the African painted dogs, the birds and the koalas (I always love those guys!).  ok, ok… this lizard wasn’t real.  But it did come out of nowhere!  Both mark and I jumped when we saw it!

Perhaps most interesting were the types of enclosures they had at the zoo.  It was very common for us to walk into an enclosure and then have a designated path to stay in. Pictured below, for example, is the quokka exhibit.  Quokkas are native to this part of Australia, but they are pretty rare to see out and about.  Here, we were encouraged to stay on the path by these little rope fences, but otherwise we were just hanging out with the quokkas!