I've been off the internet for the past couple of months,
I've spent the last few days catching up on my mail,
if you've sent me a letter in the past and haven't received
a reply dated this month please send it to me again, or if
you just want to send me a post, the address is the same
as before,
dee_lamzaki@msn.com
Well I was finally able to visit the San Diego Zoo this
September, something I've wanted to do since childhood.
It really is an impressive place and deserves its reputation,
since I was a member of the New York Zoological Society
for years I'll always have a special place in my heart for the
Bronx Zoo but if it has a rival this is it. The herpetological
collection is especially impressive, with separate breeding
colonies of Galapagos tortoises from many of the islands
(they were in a particularly romantic mood when I visited,
there was a tortoise orgy going on down there, if you've
never seen, or better yet HEARD Galapagos tortoises
mating, it is quite an event to witness, they are far from
silent! :-) The fact that many of the mating pairs were
in their 80's and still going strong is something that
impressed more than one human! They also had Komodo
Dragons, and a whole building devoted to snakes, not to
mention their amphibian collection, herp lovers will have a
great time.
Another terrific experience was travelling through the Tiger
River section of the Zoo. You travel down a very steep
pathway while all around and above you is an Asian Cloud
forest so thick that the canopy blocks out the sun and the
temperature drops over 20 degrees. Huge automatic misters
hidden in the forest periodically blanket you and the plants
with moisture. I half expected to find Nepenthes vines in
the trees or rosettes on the forest floor! All of this takes
place outdoors, in the middle of what is essentially a
desert, truly a remarkable accomplishment. Their water
expenditure for the park must be astronomical.
For those of you who are bird lovers Mexico is also an
unbelievable experience. Street vendors working from the
backs of trucks have dozens of parrots for sale, one fellow
was selling Double Yellow head and Blue Fronted Amazons
for $75.00 a pair, when I stopped and stared in disbelief
at what I saw, he offered to let me have a pair for
$50.00 U.S.! I know the bird fanciers out there now have
their hearts in their throats, but in case you aren't into
birds and these figures are meaningless let me put his
prices into perspective, it would be similar to selling full
grown N. rajah or N. villosa plants for around $10. He
claimed they were bred in captivity but they were most
likely wild collected. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't
tempted, they were young adults and healthy looking,
I even petted a few and although they were lively birds
they didn't hiss or bite which if they were wild surprises
me, still I said no thanks.
The other thing I wanted to mention was our last BACPS
meeting. Our guest speaker was Dr. Alfredo Lau. He
gave a talk on the species of pinguicula he has seen
on his various trips through Mexico, and showed us slides
of them including the species named for him, Pinguicula
laueana. The pictures were spectacular, including a
species of pinguicula with scarlet red flowers, a species
with rosettes as big as your hand that catches insects
on both the upper and lower surfaces of its leaves, pings
growing in the middle of the desert on a 3ft by 3ft patch
of shaded rock, pings growing on the tops of cliffs, pings
growing on the vertical sides of cliffs and pings growing
upside-down on the bottom of cliff ledges, the acrobatics
involved in taking the pictures were themselves amazing.
After his talk I was able to chat with him and see more
pictures he had including some impressive cacti and
succulents, one showed him standing at the base of a
thick, normal looking tree trunk that rose some 20 feet
above him and suddenly turned into hundreds of towering
cactus branches that reached for the sky like a forest of
saguaro, my guess is the whole thing measured close to
80 feet high. He also discussed his personal life and his
work educating Mayan youth whom he credits as the true
experts on the local pinguicula as many of the species are
found near their villages. It was a real pleasure meeting him
and an experience I'll never forget.
It's great to be back on the list, a very Merry Christmas and
a Happy New Year to all of you!
Warmest regards,
Demetrios