Sunday, October 28, 2012

National Zoo Redux Part VI: Revisiting the (Non-avian) Reptiles (and Amphibians)

Besides the invertebrate house, there were also other exhibits behind the Reptile Discovery Center that I hadn't looked at on my first trip. Here is a Komodo dragon in an outdoor enclosure. The outdoor non-avian reptiles are moved into indoor quarters from November to April, another incentive to visit during the other half of the year.

A Chinese alligator, the smaller and more threatened of the two living Alligator species.

Inside the Reptile Discovery Center, an emerald tree monitor. Unlike other monitor lizards, this species doesn't use its tail as a weapon, due to the importance of the tail in climbing.

A Philippine crocodile.

A Madagascar day gecko. Both times I've visited the Reptile Discovery Center, I overheard visitors identifying it as "the Geico Gecko".

A rhinoceros snake.

A poison-dart frog.

Some Cuban crocodiles, a rather gregarious crocodilian species. The zoo really has a nice crocodilian collection.

A glass lizard.

A blurry picture of a Vietnamese mossy frog. I actually thought its eyeball was a tortoise beetle at first and wondered why the zoo wasn't using more typical feeder insects before realizing my mistake.

Some Solomon Island leaf frogs. Their young skip the tadpole stage, hatching as fully formed tiny frogs.

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