Wild Things

I skipped S's Greek school play last Friday for the simple reason that the very few Greek words I know (Mousaka, Spanakopita, Tzatziki, Baklava) are ones associated only with food. When I attended last year's hour and a half long program, I must have dozed off several times amidst the continuous drone of Greek speeches - I almost missed her 2-minute speaking part!

Anyway, to make up for it, I took her to see a show at the Linder Theater at the American Museum of Natural History yesterday.

LINK: www.amnh.org

It was a 30 minute educational show called: "It's a Wild Wild World: Predator Show" hosted by wildlife expert Andrew Simmons. For starters, he introduced us to an eagle...

...and then to a big frisky lizard with a bad attitude. We were told that these lizards live up to 15-18 years old and can eat as much as 8-10 mice/week. Hey, I guess if you let loose a few dozen of these in the streets of Chinatown, that should take care of the rodent infestation in no time!

There was also the cranky Snapping Turtle which was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to snap off the handler's thumb - and a cute cuddly black cub that they had borrowed from the zoo.
The main attraction, however, was the 7 year old Albino Python that was given to the host by his friend after inadvertly finding himself in sole custody of the "family pet" after his marriage ended. (A 120 lb. Burmese Python for a pet? No wonder the wife ran!). We learned that Albino snakes thrive well in captivity and do not survive long in the wild. For some reason, they are more susceptible to diseases and are targeted more often by predators since their pale color make them stick out like a sore thumb. They may not be venomous, but could swallow animals 6 times bigger than their mouth. (Watch out!! What is he checking out now?)

Overall, it was a very interesting show and the kids loved it. Afterwards, S requested to see the Dinosaur Exhibit, so we headed straight to the elevator as soon as the show ended. Our goal: The Saurischian Dinosaurs on the 4th floor.