Elizabeth Bailey
Children gathered in the large tent on the square for an adventure, Friday, with Amazon John from Silly Safari.
Amazon John introduced the youngsters to a young alligator, a coatamundi, a young gray fox, an African bullfrog and an eagle owl during a program that offered both information and fun. Members of the young audience had the opportunity to feel the scales of the alligator, the slime on the African bullfrog, the soft fur of the young fox and the coatamundi as well as see the large wingspan of the eagle owl.
Amazon John explained to the crowd how each one finds food and survives, often noting that “not everything in nature is pretty.” He pointed out that young alligators dine on bugs, small fish and other small wildlife found in the swamp and that their tongues form a perfect seal, preventing them from ingesting water while swimming.
The African bullfrog, he explained, lives in a puddle in Africa. Since there can be only one frog per puddle, he has to eat his siblings to survive. Then he can eat bugs as well as other small animals until the rainy season ends and he hibernates under a layer of mud.
The eagle owl, he noted, is very similar to the local Great Horned Owl only it lives in Europe and Asia. It finds its food with keen eyesight, swooping down to catch small animals like young rabbits and mice. It then flies into a tree to use its sharp beak to enjoy its meal, he noted.
At the close of the program, the children had the opportunity to file through a line to pet a rabbit, the African Bullfrog and a young red-tailed boa.
