Day 23: Flamingos are Dinosaurs
Today started a little oddly there were two options one was to go skydiving and the other was to go to a bird sanctuary. I opted for the bird sanctuary as well as 7 other people.
We headed over to the bird sanctuary I was a little tired but decided to do this since just sleeping in felt odd since were actually getting close to then end (1 week left :((( ).
The purpose of the park is to rescue birds who have been put into bad situations like smuggling and if they are ready treat them and release them into the wild otherwise then they take care of them for the rest of their lives.
One of the first exhibits we saw was the flamingos.
I never realized it in the past but flamingos are some of the funkiest birds.
There legs are super thin, their necks are really long, and their beaks look funky. They are considered beautiful birds and they are but they also have features that I think are super unique. Gained a lot of respect for flamingos today.
These birds were pretty cool too they had really cool orange beaks and are unfortunately not currently living outside of captivity but this sanctuary and others have reintroduction programs.
We continued to walk around and discover new birds and other things.
Found this interesting tree that started growing straight up through one of the enclosures.
We also found a wild toucan who was just wandering around the park investigating the toucans inside the preserve.
We then headed over to the butterfly house and we got to see some really interesting butterflies as well as large moths. This one was really scared and ended up peeing all over me but it wasn’t too much and it was pretty funny too.
We went a little bit further and saw one of the craziest birds on the planet a Cassowary
They have these giant horn on top of their heads and are incredibly violent almost dinosaur like as well. They are the size of ostriches which makes them even more terrifying.
I was in sort of an odd mood afterward but we went to lunch to meet up with the sky diving people at a buffet. After hearing how good of a time they had been having I immediately was feeling better. I was feeling better and happy for them that they had such a great experience. It was really nice and actually inspired me a little bit. I was feeling a little disappointed that I didn’t do it as well at first but now I feel like I know it’s something I want to do at some point in my life and maybe I’ll do it when I’m in Tokyo.
The lunch was good too probably one of the best buffets we’ve been too it felt like home cooking.
After lunch we headed over to Refúgio Biológico Bela Vista which is a nature preserve similar to that of the bird sanctuary mean’t to help animals that were in bad situations as well as some more. They are responsible for reforesting the areas deforested and destroyed by the flooding of the Itaipu dam as well as helping to repopulate and maintain the biodiversity of the region in terms of both fauna and flora.
We walked around a little bit and were first introduced to the flora section.
The food they produce for herbivores
Plant growing area
After walking for a little we came to an area where monkeys began to incircle us. We had seen some monkeys in passing before but this was the first time where it seem’d we were the focus.
They were actually after avocados and we just happen to be right by them but it was really cool to see so many come around us.
We kept on walking and saw some more cool things along the way
As well as others
We then got to a plant that I saw in Ibiriapuera which is really cool. It doesn’t have petals in the flowers it has bracts which I’d never seen before and proceeded to read the Wikipedia article on.
Then we saw something amazing two jet black jaguars. Which I learned meant they have Melanism which is the opposite of Albinism. Also Panthers aren’t real cats they’re actually just any big cat with Melanism. Here’s a video of them we we’re so close and got to witness so much.
They are mother and daughter. We watched them play for a while before moving on. We walked a little more until we ended up back where we started.
We then left and headed he before going to a Mexican restaurant for a little bit. Twas a good night of relaxing.
Thanks for reading
