The area right around the plantation buildings is home to several gopher tortoises. What I was learning this past weekend was that every creature who comes in contact with a person at Kingsley ends up with a name.
Meet Lawdog.
I was taking this picture when a ranger walked by and told me that his name was Lawdog, because he has a chunk taken out of his shell on the back left side, that the rangers decided he had received while "laying down the law" for some other animal.
This is Niko the crab. Blaze named him after his sister Nika because he said they were both "crabby". Blaze and I sat on the seawall in front of the Kingsley House for a long time watching the adventures of Niko the crab.
Monday afternoon, DH, Blaze, one of the rangers, and I took a walk over to where the students have been uncovering the remains of the sugar mill. The large black tarps that had been spread over the dig to keep out the rain water, had themselves filled with water.
Mostly the puddles on the tarps had just become a mosquito breeding grounds, but one of the larger puddles had a snake and several small frogs in it. They were all trapped in the puddle because the slick sides of the plastic covered hole were too steep.
As we were trying to figure out how to help the snake and frogs get out of the puddle, the ranger announced, "Her name is Penelope."
The picture is not as clear as I had hoped, but
this clever little frog was trying to climb Penelope's body as a path to freedom.
Well, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, not every creature has a name. As far as I know, none of these has been named.
The Wooly Bear Caterpillar
P.S.
We just got exciting animal related news. One of DH's co-workers is giving us free tickets to Disney's Animal Kingdom for next Friday. None of us have ever been there before.
Disney's Animal Kingdom...that sounds like great fun; can't wait to see the pics from that. I must live under a rock or be very isolated in Idaho...lol...I've never even heard of Disney's Animal Kingdom before. Might have to google it in a minute. :)
ReplyDeleteMy oldest daughter LOVES turtles and tortoises, but I've never heard her mention a gopher tortoise before. I also didn't know they made noises, so that video was pretty cool to see and listen to. I'll have to make sure I show her this when she gets up later.
5:27am and I've already learned 3 things today. lol. Time to go back to bed and call it a good learning day. :)
Oh, sorry about that. The tortoise isn't making that noise, my new camera is. I don't know how to get that to stop. When I'm taking movies, it keeps refocusing and every time it does, it makes that robotic creaking sound, which it picks up on it's own microphone.
ReplyDeleteIf you would like to learn more about gopher tortoises, here are two sources. The first one is run by the high school science teacher at the school where I work.
http://www.ashtonbiodiversity.org/
http://www.gophertortoise.org/tortoise/facts.htm
LOL, ok, I was thinking the clicking noise was coming from the tortoise!
ReplyDeleteWe'll check out the links, thanks. :)
What a great variety of animals you have in your midst! I've never Heard of the Kingdom either! I'm sure it will be an amazing place! You all sure have been busy in exciting places lately!
ReplyDeleteYou got so many great pictures of the animals! Have a great time at Animal Kingdom. :)
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