Friday 19 January 2018

Tenerife - January 2018 - Day Four



Day Four: 9th January 2018 : 



I am not the greatest lover of zoos... There is always something there that feels wrong or an inhabitant that appears 'unhappy' with its surroundings and despite the hype I expected Tenerife’s star attraction to undoubtedly tick some of those less savory boxes.

I am also generally uncomfortable with the idea of Killer Whales and dolphins in captivity but quite how this ethically differs from keeping any larger animal such as elephants, tigers and larger primates I am not quite sure so I was in several confused minds on agreeing to go there with the family.

Suffice to say, it is good sometimes to be proved wrong and from the outside at least it was, in my humble opinion, animal showcasing at its best with clean, airy, naturally vegetated enclosures and active, engaged animals wherever you looked.  There was good multilingual interpretation with strong conservation messages throughout and I know that this sounds like some sort of official review but it isn’t, I was just impressed by the whole package including and sorry if I upset my fellow cetacean loving friends, the Killers and Bottlenoses.

Lowland Gorilla relaxing in the early morning sun


I am not well travelled and had never seen a King Penguin before (and am unlikely to in the wild either) or a Sloth or a Nicobar Pigeon or any other primate. I saw more parrot species that I have even heard of including most of the magnificent Macaws and the enigmatic inquisitive New Zealand Keas and watched Capybaras swimming underwater with Amazonian fish while Giant Anteaters sucked dinner from tubes in fake termite mounds.

King Penguin


Gentoos






 
Underwater Capybaras!
Red-headed Cockatoo
 
Hyacinth Macaw
Dozing Croc amongst the Water Hyacinths in a pool full of Guppies
 
Golden Lion Tamarin
The Sea Bass tank...

Grooming time for the Sloth
The stunning reef aquarium

However, it was the simplest life form in the zoo that captivated me beyond all reason and our last area to visit was the Jellyfisharium (my name for it by the way) with enormous cylindrical tanks from floor to ceiling within which a multitude of single species Jellies circulated on the current in a tentacled pulsating dance, gently illuminated in shades of blue, green, pink and white. 


I called this one the Blue Fly Agaric





Like a tank of green alien lifeforms





Moonies
ummm... well... we had a name for this one too...





Soothing background music played and if they had given us individual headphones I could have stayed all day and watched them bob by...


I did add two to my island list on the inside with three Moorhens around the Koi pool and several smart Spanish Sparrows mumping like sparras do best while a Canary serenaded me from above and kept and eye on a low Kestrel and a pair of Grey Wagtails flicked around with the Tigers.

Moorhen

Spanish Sparrow
 
Kestrel
Canary - it's above you!

Grey Wagtail

Monarch butterflies cruised around in the sunshine but it took a while to get a picture and two Emperor Dragonflies patrolled the Crocodile lagoon...

Monarch


Back at Bajamar I finally got to grips with the CICC that likes to sing from the date palm opposite the front door  before finishing off with a fine seafood meal down in town at Cofradia de Bajamar opposite those amazing waves!

Canary Island Chiffchaff



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