Saturday, August 28, 2010

Duiker

duiker

Duiker (Cephalophus rufilatus)

This is an animal I hadn’t heard of. I learned that it is pronounced “dye-ker.” They are a very small antelope species from Southern Africa. The zoo has two of them and they are in an enclosure with several bird species. What seems to be the dominate animal in the enclosure is the hooded vulture (who I’ll add latter). As I watched the duikers, they would constantly be chased by the vulture. These things are only about 15 inches tall and weigh about 31 pounds. They are kind of cute.

Emerald Starling

emerald starling

Emerald Starling (Lamproptornis iris)

One of the birds found in the Vollum Aviary. I think it is my favorite there. This bird is from the Ivory Coast of Africa and sports a beautiful metallic green feather pattern. Though it is hard to photograph, because it doesn’t sit still for very long.