I'd love to go to an aquarium with billytea. The zoo was fun but for me the best part was the invertebrate section and I think billytea skipped that for the monkeys.

I wasn't really fond of the insects but they had various sea life there and as I told DebetEsse and possibly a few other people, land animals just don't get me as happy and as excited as aquatic life.

If anyone wants to pay for the food (dead broke), I'll cook it.

I'd contribute to a foodathon at Deb's. Maybe we can lure some LAistas up for a munchdown.

The Mystic Aquarium has a penguin encounter program where you get to pet a penguin and listen to its heart with a stethoscope. It's a way of helping them acclimate to people and thus make the vet visits less stressful.

t checks website So. African penguins. Yeah, that works for me. Yes, that was wholly redundant. Any penguin species would've worked for me.

t checks Mapblast The drive from Philly would be 4 hours, if all goes well. Not sure of the odds, there. I might be tempted to fly into Providence and drive from there.

When is this for again?

I'd love to go to an aquarium with billytea. The zoo was fun but for me the best part was the invertebrate section and I think billytea skipped that for the monkeys.

Nope. I quite happily passed on the great ape house for the invertebrates. The giant Pacific octopus was not at all giant, and kind of cute (and shy). It is true, the coolest invertebrates live in the sea, including octopus, mantis shrimp, pistol shrimp, giant crossdressing cuttlefish, and giant squid. And the big red tube worms that live by thermal vents. And the nudibranch, because it's so much fun saying nudibranch.

and giant squid.

Speaking of which, how did you like that New Yorker article?

Kristin, AFAIK any of those weekends would work for me, and I'm just a short drive away. Yay!

August 21-22 look best right now, followed by July 31-August 1. I like the idea of an "End of the Summer Bash."

Why don't I remember you in the invertebrate house? Well I did get kind of seperated from the group when I went in one direction and found the poems to Hissing Cockroaches written by kids.

I took a picture of the bulliten board and my favorite poem.

The zoo guy thought the giant octopus was dead. Evidentally they had another octopus that laid eggs and then was dying so he just assumed the shy octopus was dead. Until the zoo chick that was feeding the natiluis told him that no that the octopus wasn't dead.

Seeing the natiluis (which I can't spell and am too lazy to look up) being fed was really really neat. Plus they move really cool.

In one aquarium they had sea urchins -- okay in more than one aquarium they had sea urchins-- but in this particular one there was an urchin on the side of the glass with his tentacles out feeding. I made sure to point out to the girls standing next to me where his mouth was and how they move. I think urchins are cool and it feels weird when they walk on your hand.

cuttlefish

I loves me some Cthulufish.

Edit: and that New Yorker article was amazing.

Speaking of which, how did you like that New Yorker article?

I still haven't read it. Study still has first claim on my free time. I'll probably get to it this weekend.

The zoo guy thought the giant octopus was dead. Evidentally they had another octopus that laid eggs and then was dying so he just assumed the shy octopus was dead. Until the zoo chick that was feeding the natiluis told him that no that the octopus wasn't dead.

That's just odd. Yes, octopi die shortly after their eggs hatch. This isn't really transferable to an obviously young specimen with nary an egg in sight.

Seeing the natiluis (which I can't spell and am too lazy to look up) being fed was really really neat. Plus they move really cool.

This is true. The chambered nautilus' shell basically grows with the nautilus, and as it grows, it seals off previous chambers and only lives in the outermost bit. But there are small holes in the centres of the internal walls, allowing the critter to pump water in and out of the chambers and thus control their buoyancy. Neat trick.

Why don't I remember you in the invertebrate house? Well I did get kind of seperated from the group when I went in one direction and found the poems to Hissing Cockroaches written by kids.

Hee. I saw the hissing roaches (kind of a staple of invertebrate houses), but didn't notice the poems. I can get a bit tunnel visioned around zoos. I did, however, see the bird-eating spider, who was indeed a big bugger.

In one aquarium they had sea urchins -- okay in more than one aquarium they had sea urchins-- but in this particular one there was an urchin on the side of the glass with his tentacles out feeding.

Oh yeah, that was cool. I got a photo of it, though I'm not sure how it turned out.