Last week I had the opportunity and pleasure to visit the biggest and most beautiful zoo in the country. Now that tourism is heavily limited because of the pandemic, domestic tourism is the only option for many, which is good for the economy. If you've missed my post, you can read it here.
In my last post I've shown you the entrance and the bird house full of colorful, exotic birds. Now it's time to see the reptiles. Because reptiles in my country are not many,there are snakes in the mountain and the Danube Delta but not like in other countries, roaming around keeping people in fear all the time. This is why these few reptiles are really appreciated by the public. This is the view of the reptile aquarium from above.
Let's start with a green anaconda, which is sleeping most of the time I believe. There's not much space here for him to roam around anyway.
The green anaconda is the world's heaviest and one of the world's longest snakes, reaching a length of up to 5.21 m (17.1 ft) long. Anacondas live in swamps, marshes, and slow-moving streams, mainly in the tropical rainforests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. They are cumbersome on land, but stealthy and sleek in the water. Their eyes and nasal openings are on top of their heads, allowing them to lie in wait for prey while remaining nearly completely submerged. source
The green anaconda is a non-venomous boa species found in South America, thus not used to temperatures ranging between -30C and +40C, like in my country.
This is an Indian python, a nonvenomous python species native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. I don't know how big this one is as there's no space for him to straighten himself but an Indian python can reach 3m.
The third one is a boa constrictor, or red-tailed boa, a non-venomous snake found in tropical South America, as well as some islands in the Caribbean. These snakes are non-venomous but that doesn't mean they are not dangerous. Good thing you don't find them very often in private reptile collections in the country as not many can afford to maintain a snake of this size in proper condition and I don't even know if it's legal at all.
This (photo model) green basilisk is next, also called plumed basilisk. This guy was standing there, like he has been displayed for the public, without making a move. These lizards are very quick otherwise, they are able to disappear in no time. Here however that doesn't apply. This aquarium is soundproof, they can't hear the noise and the screaming kids can make sometimes and can't see much either, so they feel perfectly safe in there. There are lizards in Romania, roaming around free, but not this size. What you can see in bushes and humid environments are much more smaller and darker.
This one was a sneaky one. You had to look really carefully to see if there's something in the aquarium. One of the snakes' virtue is their ability to camouflage. These are predators, in order to capture something, they need to hide, stay invisible. Their skin is not so colorful, some are greenish, others like this are brown-gray, perfect for hiding under the rocks. This is a Elaphe taeniura, or a beauty rat snake, a species native to the eastern and southeastern regions of Asia. Odd name if you ask me. This one is not so long, but can reach between 1.2–1.8 m though. Their preference is caves, which means their color is perfect for caves.
The big pool is shared between these cute turtles and something you'll see later in this post. These little turtles are the cutest in here. Last time i was here there were so many, maybe three times more than this year. There's another place where there are turtles, I'm going to show you later in this post, but those are of other species.
Zoos usually swap animals as there's not enough space, especially for those who are reproducing regularly in captivity. This is a good thing as zoos can diversify their portfolio, for free I believe.
Last time I was here, access to the pool was restricted, you could not go round the pool, the only access way was the front of the pool, the right part on my photo. People were throwing in all kinds of food to the turtles, which is was forbidden then and it is forbidden now. Imagine giving sweet or salty biscuits or bread that was made with yeast to these reptiles, what damage can these foods do to their digestive system. These little cuties were struggling to get out of the water, to reach the biscuits, literally racing each other. It was fun to watch but not good at all when it comes to their health.
This year I haven't seen anyone to throw food to the animals, which is a good sign. I hope that is a case everyday and wasn't just a period of time when no one had food to throw in to the animals. Parents should act like responsible adults and teach kids to do the right thing and not opt for a few minutes of fun that can be deadly to these animals.
I had to mark these two as are hardly visible. I tried to find a better angle but it wasn't possible. Two small alligators in the water. They were not in the mood for a photo shoot, couldn't care less about the visitors :)
Round the pool there were exposed these skulls, which was new to me as I haven't seen them before. Unfortunately none of them had any description about the animal it belonged to before. Some I could recognize (vaguely), the others were just a mystery.
I truly hope they are working on those tags and descriptions so people can learn about the animals theses skull belonged to. This is also an educational center for kids and adults as well, any occasion should be used to teach people something about the fauna.
Outside the aquarium room, there's this place with a very small pond, where there are two species of turtles. The yellow ones are Hermann's tortoise, can be found throughout southern Europe and are named after the French naturalist Johann Hermann
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