Animals
« Previous EntriesPandas for the Olympics
By rocky | June 28, 2008
The horrific earthquake that shook China on May 12 this year not only killed and destroyed the homes of thousands of people it did extensive damage to wildlife, in particular the Chinese’s most prized animal the giant panda. The Wolong Giant Panda Reserve was only 32km from the epicenter and it was badly damaged, five of the staff members were killed in the carnage, but fortunately 58 of the 60 panda’s have been found and are all safe, the other two it is hoped they have just escaped and will be found. The pandas have been moved to Beijing and they are going to go on display at the Beijing Zoo and will be on display until November. There were plans to move the panda’s to Beijing before the earthquake but now the need is more crucial. It is expected over 6 million people will visit the zoo for a look at the fury black and white bears during their stay. It is believed under 1600 pandas now live in the wild.
Topics: Animals, Asia | No Comments »
Jesus dines on Guinea Pigs
By rocky | June 26, 2008
We did a story a few weeks ago on a restaurant in Dublin called the Guinea Pig Restaurant. We got quiet a bit of feedback from our visitors, but most of them read the story wrong, the Guinea Pig doesn’t serve the fury critters, they are a fish restaurant. But to the horror of those who left us a comment, we thought we would do a story about Peru today where they just love sinking their teeth into a succulent piece of roast guinea pig, infact it is estimated that over 56 million of them are roasted every year. Guinea pigs are the perfect meal in Peru, they are easy to breed, very easy to raise and don’t require much space and they are pretty damm tasty too, being high in protein and low in cholesterol. The little rodent like creature has been on the menu for thousands of years. Today’s photo is a Spanish version of the Last Supper which was painted by Marcos Zapata, it shows Christ and his apostles ready to eat a guinea pig. The painting hangs in the Capilla del Triunfo Cathedral of Cuso Peru which was built in 1539.
Topics: Americas, Animals, Food | No Comments »
Rockhampton - Australia’s beef capital
By rocky | June 24, 2008
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The surrounding area of Rockhampton on the central coast of Queensland, Australia is home to an estimated three million head of cattle making the city Australia’s beef capital. The city has a rich heritage of beef farming and as you will see from the dozen’s of cattle statues and monuments throughout the city beef is what makes this city tick. Their pubs not only serve ice cold beer but some of the best beef burgers, and steaks found anywhere in the world. One of the most famous of the Rockhampton pubs is the Great Western Hotel which is home to a 3000 seat undercover rodeo stadium where champion riders test their skills against fiery eyed cattle. Just out of town at Gracemere is one of Australia’s biggest livestock markets and home to huge cattle sales on Fridays. Here some of the country’s finest cattle is auctioned to become dinner all around the world. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Animals, Australia | No Comments »
Tijuana Donkey - Zebra - Zonkey?
By rocky | May 9, 2008
Going back to the thirties some bright entrepreneur in Tijuana Mexico decided to paint their donkey with black and white stripes to look like a Zebra, the idea was to make the animal look better on black and white photographs. Most of the donkey’s were white or fairly light and photographed badly in the bright Mexican sun. Like any good idea, others followed and decades later the tradition continues. The zonkeys or painted donkey are there for the tourist, it’s amazing how many people will spend the $10 or so to have themselves photographed wearing silly Mexican hats and ponchos with these dopey striped animals. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Americas, Animals, Kitsch Stuff | No Comments »
Lincoln Park Zoo
By rocky | May 4, 2008
Lincoln Park Zoo is as the name suggests in Lincoln Park in the heart of Chicago and dates back to 1868 when a pair of swans joined a bear cub. Today the zoo is home to about 1250 animals which popular exhibits include gorillas, monkeys, seals, birds of preys and reptiles. The zoo also has a huge children’s area where kids can get up close to farm animals. The zoo has a large conservation duty and also carries out an extensive school program where the young can learn about the animals and the challenges they face in their natural habitats. One of the highlights of the Lincoln Park Zoo is the Robert R McCormick Bear Habitat where you can see Andean Bears, Malayan Sun Bears and the beautiful Polar Bears. The Polar Bear exhibit features one of the largest exhibits in the world with a quarter of a million gallon tank for their pleasure. Visitors can see these massive and graceful creatures behind glass frolicking in the water. The zoo is open every day and best of all its free. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Animals, USA | No Comments »
The Meguro Parasite Museum
By rocky | April 27, 2008
 Japan has some of the world’s more interesting museums, there the noodle museums, sewerage museums, salt museum…you get the drift but now we have found one which is even weirder…The Kiseichuu Hakubutsukan or Meguro Parasite Museum. Here you can see jars and jars of interesting parasites in all shapes and sizes. The star attraction of the museum in their 45000 item collection is a 8.8 meter long tape worm which once happily lived in a woman. There are all sorts of worms and wriggly things enough to turn you off your lunch and probably tomorrows as well. The museum like all museums features a gift shop at the end of the tour, and yes you can buy your very own parasites one of the best sellers is a parasite key chain- beats that Hello Kitty one they are selling down the street and for only Y210 its a real bargain. The Meguro Parasite Museum is located Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, and only a few minutes walk from Meguro Station. - Just a word of warning no eating is allowed whilst veiwing the parasite collection. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Animals, Asia, Museums | No Comments »
Fire rocket launches at cows
By rocky | April 26, 2008
Here at Tripandom we really hate animal cruelty but this story was so bizarre we have decided to tell it. There is a tourist attraction just outside the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh where visitors can fire all sorts of military weapons including machine guns, grenades, rocket launches and anti aircraft guns and for a few more dollars you can shoot at different types of targets. For about $200 US which is huge dollars in Cambodia you can fire your weapons of choice at a coco-nut or for a few dollars more even take out a poor chicken. For those blood thirsty people who have another spare $200 you can take out a cow with a rocket launcher. If you miss the cow you get the $200 back and need to spend another $200 +$200 for your second shot. We can’t seem to find out what happens to the cow, that’s if there’s anything left, maybe hamburgers for dinner? Who knows? If you have any other weird attractions or even distasteful ones like this we would love to hear from you.. Drop us a line.
Topics: Animals, Asia | No Comments »
Baghdad Disneyland Style
By rocky | April 25, 2008
Well the streets might be just as safe as LA but that isn’t stopping the US based company U3’s plan to turn the old Baghdad Zoo into a Disney style theme park in Iraq’s capital. The Times has reported today that the park is going to be a huge US style adventure park with rides, concert theater, museum and will cost in the vicinity of $500 million to construct. Before the US invasion the Baghdad Zoo was one of the city’s more popular attractions but many of the animals died and many more were abandoned or stolen for food. The Zoo is slowly opening with bears, lions and ostriches already on show, a huge skate park is the next thing to open sometime around June. The C3 Company is using a development company which has worked closely with Disney so some pretty amazing things are planned and it is hoped that this park is only the start of making Baghdad a much more happier place for it’s young and families.
Topics: Animals, Middle East, fun parks | No Comments »
The Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy
By rocky | April 23, 2008
Siegfried and Roy are Las Vegas institutions they performed amazing animal and magic shows on the Las Vegas strip for decades until a horrific accident involving a tiger nearly killed poor Roy a few years back. Today the duo are remembered with a magnificent animal park at the Mirage Casino Complex. Here amongst an amazing tropical sanctuary are the most beautiful royal white tigers which the team were so famous for along with leopards, white lions, panthers and even an elephant. The sanctuary also includes a watered area with 2.5 million litres of tropical seas and coral reefs which are home to Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins. The centre is committed to conservation and hope this centre will help people understand the importance of these amazing animals and the real threats they are exposed to which threaten their species existence. This is a magnificent way to escape from the neon and artificialness of Vegas and experience some of the world’s finest animals in their very own Vegas oasis.
Topics: Americas, Animals | No Comments »
A few fine feathered friends
By rocky | April 22, 2008
Singapore’s Jurong Bird Park is one of the island city’s most popular attractions. The park has recently completed a multi million dollar make over and offers so much for the visitor. Some highlights include The Waterfall aviary would have to be the parks most spectacular home to 60 species and over 1500 birds all living in a huge enclosure which includes a 30 metre high man made waterfall. The aviary is that huge it even has own monorail. Labelled the Panorail which travels through it. The Bird’s and buddies show is also a crowd favourite with parrot and cockatoo performances and an exciting birds of prey show. And there is nothing as cute as the penguin exhibit more than 200 of these artic black and white feathery friends call the exhibit home, the exhibit includes Humboldt, the Rockhopper, the Macaroni, the Fairy and the majestic King Penguin. The Darkness exhibit is also a great chance to see nocturnal birds including fish owls, snowy owls and herons all living happily in reverse light conditions.
Topics: Animals, Asia | No Comments »