Unicorns Really Do Exist!

I had started this post last year, but when my computer crashed a couple months ago, it was forgotten in a drafts folder on an external hard drive. Today on Facebook, a friend posted a cartoon which reminded me of this post, so I went back to finish it.

I had made a similar post on my other blog ages ago, but now that that blog is gone, I decided to revisit the subject, since I can easily relate it to another of my favorite subjects, Cryptozoology.

If you’ll recall, in one of my papers last semester, I explained that Creationists believe that Dinosaurs were the creatures behind all the dragon myths that permeated many ancient cultures. But what about all the other famous mythological animals? Surely they can’t all have been purely make believe. Couldn’t some of them have been based on a living animal?

Second only to the dragon, most people’s favorite mythological beast would be the unicorn. These days, it seems popular to view the unicorn as a wimpy little animal that only little girls like, but I've never really been one to care what's popular. I still think unicorns are awesome. I prefer a little more of a dangerous version though. When I was younger I liked an illustration from the final book in the Chronicles of Narnia series that showed Jewel the unicorn with blood running down his horn. I may have been a slightly disturbed child… :p

Aaanyyywayyy…

Where did the unicorn come from? Was it real? The Bible talks about Unicorns, and it talks about them in passages that do not suggest they are speaking of a fictitious creature. It speaks of them the same as it does a sheep or a horse. So if one believes what the Bible says, then obviously there has to be a real animal behind the name. But what was it? Someone much smarter than me actually took the time to track down an answer, and the video he made pretty much blew me away. It makes so much sense, I don’t know why this didn’t occur to anyone before this guy figured it out!

Answers in Genesis, the ministry behind the Creation Museum, and the upcoming life-sized Noah's Ark in Kentucky, wrote an article about this as well, and they went on to say that in the 18th century there were reports of explorers in Africa, discovering ancient drawings on stone of equine-like animals with one horn. Could the "Mythical" version be real as well? As far as I know, there isn't any documented evidence of these drawings. I think AIG would have referenced them if there were.

I still think it would be cool if there were a real animal that looked like a horse with a giant horn growing out of its forehead, but knowing that the unicorn was (And still is!) a real animal is pretty awesome. :)

By the way, here is the cartoon that reminded me to finish this post. :)
The artist may have been making a joke, but I bet they never guessed how close to the truth they were!

Overheard at the Zoo

This post is in the same spirit as one of my previous posts, Little Kids at the Zoo, which you can find HERE, only this time there was some humor from stuff I heard adults say as well. So instead of calling it Little Kids at the Zoo 2, I just renamed it altogether.

For the easily offended, there is some crude humor. Kids say the darndest things you know…

Kid Number 1: Dad! Dad! Is that its shell?

Kid Number 2: Dad, is that its shield?

(Last chance, anti-crude people, you have been given fair warning!)

Kid Number 3: (After watching the rhinoceros stand in the water with its tail raised for awhile) “Why isn’t it pooping yet, mom?!”

Mom: (Holding back laughter) “I don’t know, sweetie.” *To her husband* “He’s your son.”

A man misread the sign for the Dama Gazelles. In his defense, he was standing quite a ways away, and the sign for the Dama Gazelles is written in a slightly odd font.

His wife’s reaction:

*Horrified exclamation* “Steve!” *To someone else* “Did you HEAR what he just told the kids they are!?”

He thought the second “A” in Dama was an “N”.

This one you sort of had to be there, but it was so cute I’m writing about it anyway. There was a lady with a baby, less than a year old, in a stroller. She pushed the stroller up to the fence beside me, by the Red River Hogs, and there was one right below us, eating. The baby got so excited and almost stood up and began exclaiming wildly to the hog in baby talk. The mom listened for a while and laughed, “Wow, you’re just having a regular conversation there aren’t you?”

“Mamma! Look at the Goat!”

*Dryly* “That’s a gazelle, honey.”

“Hey! He’s got a mohawk!”

“I want an orangutan SO bad!”

“LOOK! A NINJA SQUIRREL!”

Skyfari!

When I was at the zoo this month I went on the Skyfari. A ski-lift-like ride that takes you up over the entire zoo and to the top of pachyderm hill. Of course I had my camera, and I took a whole bunch of areal shots.

This is the beginning of the Skyfari, I took this picture before I went on the ride.

The Skyfari begins at the giraffes.

I loved seeing the Garden of the senses from above. I think it looks even cooler from the air. Though, most things do. :)

This is where my trip up ended. I went to see the rhinos and the sea lions before I rode back down.

On the way back down I switched over to my zoom lens so I could get close up shots of the animals.

Unfortunately my camera battery died, and I was not willing to risk my camera trying to change the battery in mid air, so I switched to using my point and shoot instead.

The cheetahs were not out on my trip up, so it was nice to get a glimpse of them on my way back down.

Back down to the ground. I plan to ride this in the future too. Hopefully my battery cooperates the next time. :)

June at the Zoo

As usual I went to the zoo at the beginning of the month. More picture will come later at my photography blog, Plus a couple bonus posts here of some things I did, but for now here’s just a few general things I saw while I was there,

Woah! How’s this for a starter picture? :) It is so hard to get good pictures of the tarantulas. Their cages are pretty messy, and covered in webs, but this one was pretty decent. Not quite good enough for my photography blog, but better than most.

A Dama Gazelle. These things never seen to do anything but lie down.

Love the giraffes. :)

I also love that penguins live with them. :)

The ostriches were finally on display. I haven’t seen them yet this year.

I love it when there’s actual wildlife in the exhibits too. :)

A huge moth was just finishing emerging from its cocoon in the hatching room.

There are some real pitcher plants hanging from the walls in the insect pavilion. I wish they’d get some Venus Flytraps too. That would be so cool!

This bird was in the insect room. Little kids were following it around with their parents close behind them telling them not to touch him.

Adults were following him too, though more for photography purposes than to touch him.

This giraffe proves the old saying true. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

I really wish I could get better shots inside of the shark tunnel. To do so I would need lights and tripods and absolutely no huge masses of humanity practically squeezing the life out of me as I try to make my way out of the tunnel. Yeah It was REALLY bad that day.

I love seahorses. :)

Lionfish are amazing.

Hammerhead aren’t as big as they seem in pictures. I had always imagined them as enormous man-eating monstrosities around the size of a great white, but they really aren’t more than just a few feet long. Unless of course, there is a much bigger, more dangerous version out there somewhere.

I have been trying to make it up to see the rhinos for the last few times, but I have never seen more than just the rear end of one from a distance. I guess it was always too cold for them to stay out for long. This month I rode the Skyfari up to see them and I got a lot of pictures. More of those will show on on J. North Photography later this month. Plus I am planning a separate post of all my birds-eye view pictures I took from the Skyfari itself.

The zoo’s newest addition to pachyderm hill is the Indian rhinoceros. It is actually rather rare. It was nice to get to see these as not many people have the privilege.

While I was up so far I decided to quickly go see the sea lions before taking the Skyfari back down to the giraffes, but it turned out that there was a show starting within the half hour, so I waited. I had never seen the sea lions perform before, so that was really cool. I have a whole post planned about that, plus one with the up close shots for J. North Photography.

While I waited for the show to begin I got some good picture of this bird. I think it might be a starling, but even if it is that messy nasty bird, it is still pretty in its own way.

I think the male sea lion got lonely after the show was over. He kept coming out of the water and barking after the trainers had left.

Before I left I found a little garden are with a birdbath and benches, with no sidewalks. It was pretty peaceful there. More pictures coming to J. North Photography soon! :)