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Yesterday, I was prepared to finish the entire front side of my WVU T-shirt quilt, but my friend Wendy wasn’t feeling well so as she bundled down with a cup of hot coca I decided to try my luck at the Nagasaki Bio Park! I have heard great things about this place, but had never been, so I begged my sister and her 3 friends from the ship yards where she works, to spend the day with me. After a quick battle of the wits, which I won of course, they agreed to go and after a hearty breakfast of salad and rice made by Harshit, we were on our way! They were not prepared for the excitement I have in my love of animals, but soon caught on. I hope you get caught up in the excitement too, as I show you all of the animals I saw.Right after entering the park, you walk up a hill on your way to the Bio Dome, there was a pen full of Llamas and sheep. These animals we have back in America, so we said a quick hello, and then continued on our way. A friend that had visited my sister a few weeks back brought us hats on his way over from Vietnam. We thought it would be fitting to wear them to the Bio Park for the day.  🙂 My sister and I together in the Bio Dome. We were running after butterfly’s just moments before.Hanging above is a “Flying Fox” which is a type of bat. I’m not sure what the fox says, but this little guy was pretty silent, sleeping on a branch. A very interesting fella, appearance wise. There was a small crevice in the rock along the way and we stopped for a quick pic, because we can!  Taking a look, we saw a North American Beaver. He was just sitting on a rock in his pond and he didn’t look like the Angry Beavers from the Nickelodeon Show. This is my first time seeing a beaver up close in real life. Next came the Flamingo area, where the flamingos walk right up to you for some snacks. We had plenty to give them so they were crowding for some food. This was also my first time touching a Flamingo. From afar, we saw this guy up on the hill and I took a quick picture of him. I don’t know how they get those cacti to grow in the cold climate of Japan, but the hill was covered. I think this is my best picture of the day, 2 Macaws enjoying the outdoors and each other at the Bio Park. Up next we have the house of rodents+goat+cockatoo and this was one of the funnest most outrageous animal houses I’ve been too. The windows were open so the goat and cockatoo could walk in and out as they pleased and it was a bustle of activity inside with a pen of mice, a couple of monkey’s out playing, owls, guinea pigs, a chinchilla. There was so much happening and it was awesome! One of the friendliest, happiest cockatoos I’ve met is right here with me, and he was the Best! All he wanted was for someone to pet him under his wings and give his feathers a ruffling. The bird lover in me instantly came out and we became fast friends, when I was trying to go back to his perch he wouldn’t budge and it took some coaxing for him to go. He took quite a fascination with my sisters hat, trying to eat the string holding it together. Just an iguana basking in the afternoon sun. The Nagasaki Bio Park was one of the most animal friendly places I’ve been to. Of course its never good to see animals in captivity but I believe that these animals actually enjoy it. Their habitats were spacious and most of them were open and you could walk right up, like the iguana above. Now this guy was very smart, for a goat that is. He kept hitting the food box waiting for someone to come and give him food. The trick worked well because people kept feeding him. He was just hanging out walking in and out of the building. It was awesome. They had strings that ran up to the ceiling and back down which the mice living in the box would run on. This guy was way up at the top of the ceiling squeezing himself up there. He seemed to like it, because he wasn’t coming down any time soon. I thought I’d just take a quick picture of him up there.I don’t understand how this owl wasn’t flying away but he was just sitting on his stand as quiet as ever watching all of the passerby’s. I finally have petted an owl and I want one for a pet, like Harry!This owl definitely looks more lethal. I didn’t try my luck with him although I could have. He seemed like the killing type. We left him to his business. Another awesome guy, outside enjoying the day was this turtle here. He didn’t move much from the time we walked by until we left, but I think he was also trying to get some visitors to feed him some treats. Now, for those of you out there like myself who aren’t familiar with the Capybara, you are in for a surprise. The Capybara is from South America and is the world’s largest mouse! I’ve never seen a mouse so big. Raaar. This ones a baby, but he’s still huge compared to the mice that run around where we live in America. They seemed pretty calm and docile too, not sporadic and quick like regular mice. There were a few taking a nap and I decided to sneak up on them, to get a picture. Even when I felt their fur they weren’t skidish like regular mice. Japanese cartoons are the best. Can you guess what animal this is? haha. The good ole’ prairie dog, resting on his perch, not realizing that I’m sneaking up on him to take a picture. Now this is a type of animal from China but we weren’t sure what exactly it was. The exhibit was under construction and the sign wasn’t up. Unfortunately I don’t speak Japanese so I couldn’t ask, but we know this animal is primarily from China. If you know what type of animal this is, do tell! We had a big upset on our walk to the kangaroo enclosure. The Monkey exhibit was closed down for maintenance and that’s supposed to be very fun if you get to go in there, so it just means I’ll have to take a trip back. It was time to go down and check out some roo’s! This little guy was hungry, I was happy to oblige him. A kangaroo on the run, if that’s what you want to call it. They don’t move very fast and in fact seem pretty lazy, but we saw a few hopping around from time to time.My sister with a gaggle of roo’s. We missed the hippo feeding, but that was okay because they were still on the bank eating remnants of the food. Hippos are big and also a large leading cause of death because they drag people under the water until they drown. That’s pretty harsh, especially for an animal that doesn’t eat meat. They just feel threatened I guess. I don’t think I want a hippopotamus for Christmas. Inside the bio dome on the way out.  We found a butterfly that seemed to be hurt. I was trying to give her a kiss to make her better. I’m not sure if it worked, but we felt better about trying to help. At the end of the day, the llama that hangs out outside was taken in, I found it to be comical that I was able to get a picture of him walking off right beside the parking lot of cars.And also the Macaws. We were there until the end of the day, and they were closing up shop when we were leaving.