| Members of the crocodile family are well known for their speed of
attack from the water, but this alligator seemed happy to snooze in the sun.
Still, I wouldn't want to have to go into its enclosure for any reason at
all. |  |
 | These Indian gharial
also seemed very content relaxing on their warm rock. |
| All the snakes are housed indoors in the reptile house, behind
glass screens. This Angolan python did not
move while we watched, but there is still a strong sense of powerful muscles
displayed in its coils. |  |
 | On the other hand,
this python seemed to be desperately seeking a way out of its cage, rearing
up over 6 feet from the nearest branch to see if there was a way out through
the roof. It is an albino python. Albino snakes are not uncommon, but
often don't survive long in the wild as their normal camouflage is lacking,
so this one is actually lucky to be in captivity. |
| An example of how good a snake's camouflage can be - we had to
look quite hard to spot this one as even its wide flat head looks more like
a leaf. It is easy to see why snake skin is prized in the fashion industry -
these snakes are beautiful to look at. |  |
At this time of year many snakes are hibernating. Thus they are curled up
and not moving much. Most of these were vipers. The middle one was a vivid
green pit viper (rare). We just liked the patterns and could get good
pictures.| This is a rattlesnake. They are quite common in the
south west but we haven't seen one in the wild. You can see the rattle at
the end of the tail. |  |
 | These are rainbow skinks.
Don't miss the little one in the top left. The tail is an iridescent blue. |
| The jungle runner is also very colourful. If this is camouflage
it is difficult to visualise where it actually lives. |  |
 | We hadn't realised that there are so many different lizards, and
all the ones we saw looked leathery and scaly like these, not obviously
something to tempt a predator unless it is really desperate. |
| This is a basilisk, and after watching it watching us for a while
with this unblinking stare, I could see where the phrase came from. It is
also an unusual shade of blue for an animal. |  |
 | Poisonous creatures
usually have a bright, noticeable colouring to warn predators away. Although
this one is only about 9 inches long it is still dangerous to humans. |
 | The zoo has quite a
number of different turtles in its collection, many of which are endangered.
Most of them could only be seen under water, but this red necked turtle had
come out to show us its colours. |  |
 | The colours of the Argentine leaf folding frog
are so bright and glossy that it doesn't look real. It lives in trees, and
gets its name from the fact that it lays its spawn inside a leaf it folds
for this purpose. |
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