Monday, April 22, 2013

Flehmen Unkind

Kitty cats large and small have a special organ in the roof of their mouths that increases their ability to smell, which is why you will often see them smelling stuff - or more often the air - with their mouths open. It's called the Jacobson's Organ, and the action is called "flehmen".

Well when you house some anoa (a species of small Indonesian buffalo) next door to the new tiger enclosure in a zoo, two things seem likely to happen: the anoa will be reluctant to come outside; and the tiger will lose all interest in mating with his new love and pace around dreaming of hunting his own dinner - even if he has been bred in captivity and has never hunted more than a stray pigeon.

That's what's happening to JaeJae at London Zoo.

He started the day enticingly close to the glass, enabling parents to get their vile offspring in the same photographic frame as the big boy. He stayed that way during "enrichment", when a keeper tried to lure him to the fence with offerings of meat.

 photo DSC02945_zps0e09209d.jpg

 photo DSC02949_zps9a697f71.jpg

Later, though, he woke up to the smell of fresh anoa and paced around trying to catch a glimpse, and perhaps a morsel, of his potential prey:

He stood on top of a convenient rock demonstrating the flehmen reaction:


 photo DSC02959_zps120da28d.jpg

In the old tiger enclosure it was too cold for the pygmy hippos to venture outside, so one dozed inside by the window doing an imitation of a leather sofa:

 photo DSC02960_zps4accda9f.jpg

One of the colobus monkeys has a new baby. She's just three weeks old:

 photo DSC02952_zpsad059404.jpg

 photo DSC02953_zpsab4d705b.jpg

 photo DSC02954_zps371b4394.jpg

I knew I should have made a note of the names of these two types of snakes, but I didn't and I've forgotten. The first is a tangle of two or three, the green beauty just drapes itself over a branch in coils like a complicated piece of washing on the line:

 photo DSC02955_zps9e207e9c.jpg

 photo DSC02957_zpsa755cfe6.jpg

On the subject of snakes, here are my new glasses - the ones that set me back over £450. Could have bought a real snake and a vivarium for that.

 photo DSC02961_zpsd9e761b8.jpg

4 comments:

  1. Love the animals and I think the glasses are great,well worth the cost..Enjoy wearing them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JaeJae reminds me a little bit of my love. lol He loves his meat. When given the choice of sex or eating, he finds himself in a true quandary. rotflmao

    Not crazy about the real snakes but your glasses are really cool! Now don't lose or break them!!! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jojo said it first, not keen on the real snakes, even in pictures they make me feel a bit weird, but your glasses are very very cool!

    You would think the people who run zoo's would put a bit more thought into where they house the animals...love the pygmy hippo,I still have a picture of the one we saw at London Zoo years ago

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the adult monkey and your glasses.

    ReplyDelete