Abenteuer im Zoo

I haven't yet had the opportunity to mention that last Saturday I spent a number of hours at der Zoologische Garten Saarbrücken, ie the Saarbrücken Zoo. It was a gorgeous day, and whenever that happens, my ridiculous instincts inform me that there is a zoo nearby that needs visiting. So I went.


Meet Quick and Quirk. Actually, I have no idea what their names are, but that's my best guess. Quick and Quirk are lemurs, and while my personal favourite is the ring-tailed lemur (see below), these guys are pretty darn cute!


And here they are....my favourite little Madagascarian (that may or may not actually be a word) buddies. If you exclude 2 week old puppies and orangutans, these are probably my favourite animals in the whole, wide world. I could sit and watch them all day. Actually, I kind of did. See below for a video which will probably bore you out of your mind. A few notes on the video:
a) I apologize in advance for the abnoxious clicking noises - my poor, dying camera has a few issues.
b) Yes, that "caw" that sounds like a parrot is actually coming from the lemurs.
c) There is a special guest appearance by the wide-eyed black and white ruffed lemur - he is very silly.


Update: Alas, it appears to be a no-go on the video. My internet sucks and can't handle an upload bigger than a crappy quality picture. Sorry!

That brings me to Billy. I'm not sure why I called him that, but it works. Billy is a Walliser Bergziege, or mountain goat from Wallis, Switzerland.



Finally, there was Igor (that might actually be his real name) and Elsa. Igor was trying to be sneaky, but did not consider the fact that he is sitting next to a clear (ie I can see you through it!) wall, and I caught him in the act. I guess they just don't feed him enough there. And Elsa was lonely, and proceeded to follow me around to the best of her ability (which was actually quite good, because her living area was large and spanned a good portion of the back side of the zoo, so no matter which animal I was visiting, I just had to turn around, and there was Elsa).



And now I think I will go outside, bask in the...ahem, clouds, and continue reading my book, Hexen hexen (the German version of one of my favourite childhood books, The Witches, by one of my favourite authors, Roald Dahl). You should see the cover - the witch is hidious. Oh wait...I can show you!


See? What did I tell you. Alright, time to go....tschüss!



Oops, forgot something...
RANDOM GERMAN FACT: When the perfume brand "Irish Mist" first came to Germany, the company discovered that a name change was necessary because Mist in German means crap or bullshit. Since no one wants to spray crap all over themselves, the name was changed to "Irish Moos". Moos means moss.