High Speed Sloth

Linnaeus's Two-toed Sloth

It's a Linnaeus's two-toed sloth! The silly thing about two-toed sloths is that they have three toes. They have two fingers. You'd really think biologists would know the difference. It's like the sperm whale all over again, except somewhat less gross.

Sloths are amazing because they're the only living mammal that looks more realistic in CGI than in real life. The way they move is so laboured, it's like every moment they're wondering if they really want to get to where they're going at all. That or they're stop-motion animated.

It's not a particularly exciting photograph, and it wasn't helped by the fact that the rainforest building's accurate recreation of a rainforest environment steamed up both my glasses and my camera. But who cares. Sloths are cool.

Welcome to the Jungle

Squirrel monkey at London Zoo

It's a monkey!

This weekend I went to ZSL London Zoo with my boyfriend. We had been meaning to go for about a year, because last year for his birthday present I adopted a squirrel monkey for him from the zoo,* but obviously we had to wait until the coldest weekend in the year. Being a naturally chilly person (both in temperature and personality), I wore eight layers of clothing to ensure I wouldn't get too cold. I was so bundled up I couldn't lift my arms above shoulder-height. But it was worth it!

But anyway, we had an awesome day! It was the first day of half-term, so I had expected it would be pretty busy, but in fact it was fairly quiet - I think the cold kept people at home. It was really nice being able to walk around the zoo without being buffeted by hordes of people. We went to visit my boyfriend's adopted squirrel monkey, Bounty, who lives with his monkey clan in an awesome exhibit which you can walk through. It's highly entertaining to watch them all bouncing around the place, and consequently I have a whole lot of monkey photos which will probably take over this blog for some time! Prepare to learn more than you ever needed to know about squirrel monkeys...

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*Because I kept asking what he wanted for his birthday and he kept giving me silly answers like "a monkey". I am nothing if not literal :D

On the Hedge Of Glory

Regular service is resumed! I apologise profusely for the break, I hadn't realised it was almost a week since my last post. That is most disgraceful of me. I need to head outside in the sunshine again and get snapping some new wintery pictures! Although the only real hint that this photo of a hedge was taken in the depths of January is the profusion of brown twiglet leaves (this is a technical botanical term).

Hedges do not normally strike me as something particularly photo-worthy, I have to admit, but sometimes you just have to strike out in a fresh direction and risk looking like a hedge-obsessed madwoman. For the sake of art!

Sunlit Holly

I like this picture because of the way the edges of the holly leaf seem to glow in the sunlight. Also, it reminds me of Christmas. Ah, if only I had two weeks off work to sit around eating delicious starchy foods more often. Once a year just isn't enough.

Natural Decor

Out for a wander one day, I came across this plant, which had twined itself around a rather hideous chain link fence and then sprouted some nice red berries, greatly improving the look of the thing. It was rather as though nature had decided to put up its own Christmas decorations, albeit rather late.

The World In A Drop of Water

This is a teeny version of the whole picture, alas. It's a shame the whole thing is so blurry but I was rather proud of managing to get the focus on the reflection of the plants in the droplet of dew, even if I couldn't actually keep my hands still while doing so.

Monet

It's hard to look at this and not be reminded of a Monet. Apparently you can actually visit his garden at Giverny in France, the site of the famous bridge and waterlilies. Interestingly, Monet suffered from cataracts towards the end of his life, which may have been reflected in his paintings, which at the time they were affecting his vision had a redder hue than previously; after he underwent surgery to remove the cataracts in 1923, the hue of his paintings changed again, and he was possibly able to see further into the ultraviolet spectrum than is normal - he even repainted some of his earlier works to give them a bluer hue. Intriguing!