Lunch with an Anteater

The other day Randi told me that one of her triathlete friends worked at the Denver Zoo, and would we want to go for a "behind the scenes tour"?

 

Um...let me think about that for a minute....

YES!!!!!

 

 

Randi's friend, Beth, heads up the educational department at the zoo, so we got to meet all the animals that travel around for demonstrations.  These animals are strictly for educational purposes and are never part of the public zoo displays.

 

And since I don't want to bore you with pictures of everything we saw, I thought I'd highlight the most 'intresting' ones. 

 

 

 

One of the first things I noticed was this.  This would not be the last time I shuttered.

And for those of you that don't get squeamish near a box of giant forest cockroaches, here's something else you might like.

We visited during lunchtime, so we got to see the food-prep areas.

Check out the fridge, I almost lost it when I noticed one of the "snacks".  Do you see?

And after I turned green, and had to look away, they decided to show me even more.

 UGH!

 

 

 

Things got better when they asked the kids if they wanted to feed the anteater.

 

 Anteaters like worms, which you can see really well in Reed's hand in this picture.

 

And as you can see by the smile, Anteater feeding was a big hit.

 

 

 

Even Randi was brave enough to hold the worms!

(I was good with just being the photographer.)

 

 

The other animals I was most scared of was the tri-colored squirrels.

Beth warned us that they were boy squirrels, and not to get too close or they might spray us.

 

Let me tell ya, I live in a house with all boys...you don't have to warn me twice about 'spraying'!

 I happily stayed clear of those guys.

 

 

 

Snakes, birds, an alligator, bunnies, and spraying squirrels...could any day be better?

Thank you, Miss Beth!