April Zools Day.

Yesterday I popped over to the Yagiyama Zoological Park because: (1) It was a nice day. (2) I haven't been there in several years. (3) I wanted to avoid silly April Fool Pranks online.

First on the agenda is the Reptile House. I followed the map (poorly) and ended up in a building with a bunch of guinea pigs, rabbits and goats. There was a single green snake (Japanese Striped Snake アオダイショウ) snoozing. I began to think that I'm in the wrong place.

I said Hi to some capybaras and skedaddled from there. Besides, it's Saturday, not Friday so I wouldn't be able to eat one during Lent.*

*Because capybara were semi-aquatic, strong swimmers, and had sort of webbed feet, some clergymen wrote to the Vatican to ask if the chunky rodents could be classified as a fish. The church granted that request, and capybara have been consumed during Lent ever since.

On the way to Africa, there was a flock of foul fowl but there were too many and no choice photo ops.

En route, I discovered this fur ball and it's an animal I've never heard of, Abyssinian Colobus. It's an Old World Monkey found in Cameroon, Nigeria, etc. Good news, it's not endangered.

Here's a better pic that someone else took at this zoo, scammed from the net.

Abyssinia later... (I'll be seeing you later.) Hey ostriches! Get your head out of the sand!

More on these guys later. (Grant's Zebra and Reticulated Giraffe.)

As I approached another building I looked down and saw a rhino traipsing back and forth. 

The building is a customer service area. Within are some cool skeletal recreations. Can you guess which animals these are?

This Aepyornis is also known as an Elephant Bird. One can see why.

Ooh, some real creatures! 

I caught this guy being fed by some patient folks who lined up for ages for the privilege. Here's a little video I made.

Galdurnit. I'm having a problem uploading a "YouTube Short" Try this:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iKXJeySyWQI

WooHoo! The Reptile House! (There's a ton of them, so I'm not going to bother with the Japanese nomenclature.) First up is a Northern Snake-necked Turtle.

A Yellow Anaconda.

A Colombian Rainbow Boa.

A Corn Snake (not acorn snake).

A Ball Python.

Not sure whether it's Leonardo or Michelangelo.

These guys are cool. Chinese Crocodile Lizards.

A couple of Radiated Tortoises.

This is a Japanese Forest Rat Snake, (ジムグリ).

A Japanese Striped Snake.

A big tortoise (I couldn't find a name plate for it.)

Not a very big Croc.

A Snapper!

Finally, this guy was really active. It's a Japanese Rat Snake (アオダイショウ), probably looking for a rat.

So active, that I took a video of him slithering around. (Please upload properly!)

Hopefully, that's viewable. Hey, it's a Squirrel Monkey, (リスざる).

Showing off several eggs just in time for Easter.

You can decipher the Japanese for yourself.

A carved rhino and a Black Rhinoceros, (クロサイ).

A lazy hippo, (カバ) sleeping in its poo. 

Why don't Australians like looking at hippopotamuses?  Because there's a Kaba Charge. (Please forgive me, my mates from down under.)

Did you know that Babe Ruth hit a homer at this spot in 1934? It says so right here!

Details here.

Can you find these three types of Flamingos in this video?

I told you we'd see more of these guys...

FYI, April 1st was also the 23rd anniversary of me settling down in Sendai!

Ya know. I think I'm going to end this now. It's 2:00 am and though I don't have to get up in the morning, I do need to get a little shuteye. 
To be continued...