Monday, August 13, 2007

Love is in the Air

On a recent Sunday morning I heard a small child ask his mother and father, "Why is that turtle standing on top of the other one and making so much noise?" The staff of Cypress Gardens often hear this question in its many forms. Such as, why is the big alligator trying to drown the little one, why is that green lizard biting the neck of the brown one, and why are those two butterflies stuck together? For me there is a simple answer to these simple questions, they are mating. For the parents of a small child that has not yet been given the 'Birds and the Bees' talk it can be quite embarrassing. As many of you know, children are always going to ask or say the most outrageous things when they are in the biggest crowd and with their loudest voice. I have had some mothers scowl at me as they usher their children away from the amorous tortoise as he expresses his enjoyment of the moment. These parents however used this moment to simply tell the young child that the mommy and daddy tortoise were making baby tortoises. The child said "Oooohhh" and the family moved on. Adult groups often gawk in amazement because they didn't know that tortoises were capable of making sound at all.
We have many creatures on display that are happy enough to make nests, defend them with mouth wide open (like the mama Dwarf Crocodile or the daddy Tilapia), and produce young, all right in front of our guests. Who are we to discourage them from doing what nature intended for their survival? We are also happy to say that many of the wild animals on the 170 acres of Cypress Gardens feel at home enough here to raise families. Every summer the guests get to see baby alligators sunning on the logs while their moms keep vigilant watch. Some early springs, as the cold of winter begins to hint at warmer weather, we are graced with the presence of the newest otter family. The Bluebirds and Wood Ducks use the boxes we provide, and we get to enjoy the antics of the wayward exploring youngsters as their parents try to keep them together. It is a really marvelous place to be when the great Pileated Woodpecker swoops overhead and brings a large grub to the hole in the old dead pine as the hole emits the sound of hungry young woodpeckers. We invite you to come and bring the little ones for an education they can get no where else. Come and be embarrassed with the rest of the parents as they stutter through an explanation. To add to the embarrassment of the family that came out that Sunday morning there was good ole Sunshine, the African Gray Parrot. She is notorious for being able to hear a wild bird sound once and repeat it. The Parrot exhibit is right across from the Tortoise exhibit. As many of you have guessed already, she can now reproduce the sound of a very happy "Homer the Tortoise" (who some affectionately call Humpy) and she did so, right on cue.
Oh Well,
Life's a Swamp