Silly Safari brought exciting animals to Lincoln Public Library
 

[July 24, 2021]    The Lincoln Public Library, along with United Community Bank, closed out the summer reading program “Reading Colors Your World” on Thursday, July 22. Activities included an exciting animal show for the children, followed by free ice cream and a bounce house.

For the main program, returning favorite Silly Safari came from Indianapolis. Master of Ceremonies Amazon John introduced children to several animals, educating kids all about their animal lives.

As Amazon John unloaded his van, the children tried to guess what animals the carriers held, waiting anxiously to see what he brought. His keen sense of humor and pop culture references kept the show lively.

Before bringing out the first animal, Amazon John said he would not bite if they were good. He told children every animal is special and different.

Bringing out the first animal, Amazon John said it was a real live moose as he showed the children its antlers (ears) and hooves (big feet), but they yelled out it was a dog. The moose was actually a nine-month-old Great Dane named Moose. Amazon John said since he is still a puppy, he calls him a Good Dane. If he was red, Amazon John would have named him Clifford.

As he prepared to bring out the next animal, Amazon John said it was a real live dinosaur, but the children did not believe him. He said dinosaur means "terrible lizard" and the animal turned out to be a small lizard called a skink. Asking if the animal was fast or slow, many children raised their hands for both.

Placing the long and big skink on one of the carriers, it moved slowly. Calling up two children to be his helpers, Amazon John told warned them not to touch its head. When chased by predators like the Dingo in Australia, the skink may drop its tail so it can get away. Eventually, the tail grows back. The skink has a big blue tongue and Amazon John said color is important to nature.

Asking whether the children liked princess stories, the Goosebump series or mysteries, Amazon John said the next animal was a mystery animal. As the children tried to guess what it would be, Amazon John brought out a furry little creature he calls Havoc “because it wreaks Havoc.” The animal was a relative of raccoons called a Coati mundi. Havoc ran around Amazon John’s neck, torso and back. When Havoc jumped down to the ground, Amazon John said he was probably looking for bugs and worms. Running over to Moose, Havoc and Moose wrestled playfully.

Amazon John asked the children if they were reading and writing, and many raised their hands. He said maybe they could write stories about meeting a Coati mundi in the park with a Moose. Reading colors the imagination and he said animals are like books because you can always find something amazing.

Birds are a favorite animal of Amazon John and he next brought out a four-month-old Owl he calls Hootenanny or Nanny for short. He had one child come up and stare at the owl then declared her the winner of the staring contest. Since owls cannot move their eyes, they usually win staring contests.

One thing owls can do that humans can’t is turn their heads ¾ of the way around. They have twice as many vertebrae in their neck as humans. Asking the kids how many bones they thought owls had in their neck, one yelled out 80 or 90. The answer was 14 and he said being able to turn their heads helps them see a mouse at night and sneak up on it.



The owl uses its big talons to grab its prey which includes mice, snakes, lizard, frogs and even bunnies. Amazon John said nature is not always pretty. He said owls have great big wings, spelling out the word and it appeared Nanny could understand what that spelled as she spread out her wings. Big wings allow owls to fly up to a treetop to eat their food.

Since Amazon John feeds Nanny mice, she is imprinted to think he is her mommy. He then chose an audience member to feed a mouse to the owl, who took it right out the child’s hand. If anyone wanted a selfie with the owl, he said it would be a photo "hoot."

The next animal had no scales, fur or feathers like some of the others, but was slimy. Amazon John asked if it would be a snake, snail or slug. Actually, it was Bubba, a big African bullfrog like the star of some children’s stories. Bubba was dripping with water as Amazon John carried him towards the children.

When it rains in Africa every day for a month, a bullfrog is happy and spends time in a puddle. The bullfrog sits in the puddle and eats lizards, birds, bugs, snakes and mice. That month is followed by a seven-month dry season that worries a frog who cannot hop, run or swim to another puddle. During the dry season, a frog hibernates under the puddle.

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Two audience members were called up to hold Bubba and Amazon John tried to get the little girl to kiss him and see if he changed into a prince. The little girl refused with a look of disgust on her face.

When the next animal, a furry spider, was brought out in its cage, several children screamed. Amazon John said no one seems to be afraid of spiders when singing "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" or reading Charlotte’s Web. He said you choose to let fear color your world and spiders are not scary animals. Fear is something we learn, but spiders are good animals because they eat other bugs.

Asking the children whether they liked comic book superheroes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman or Black Panther, Amazon John said that while superheroes come in all shapes, colors and sizes, there is one superhero who comes down every night and eats mice, rats, bugs, spiders, snakes and even ticks. He then brought out a baby possum named Petunia. Playing dead protects them from predators when scared, no one can even hear their heartbeat or pulse. A true super hero, not even venomous snake bites hurt possums.

All the animals are different and special. When Amazon John asked the librarians what animals he should bring to show the kids, they told him to bring the most dangerous ones like the deadly coral snake.
 

Pulling a snake from a bag, Amazon John said snakes are venomous and not poisonous. First, he just showed its tail, which made several jump and scream. As he pulled the snake out the bag the rest of the way, he had a frightened look on his face.

Identifying the snake, Amazon John said there is a rhyme to remember to tell if they are poisonous: “Red touches yellow, kills a fellow. Red touches black, safe for Jack.” The snake he brought had red rings touching black rings and was a milk snake that is not dangerous. It eats mice, which helps farmers.

Amazon John next brought out Little Bunny Foo Foo, and said it was the most dangerous animal, bopping field mice on the head and stealing carrots from gardeners like Mr. McGregor.

The final animal was a red footed tortoise named Shelby. Putting Shelby by the bunny, Amazon John said it was the tortoise and the hare.



At the end of the program, Amazon John invited the audience to come see the animals and pet them if they wanted to. The long line included both children and adults wanting to see the animals up close.

Once the program was over, the kids were invited to go over to Latham Park to jump in a bouncy house.



To cool off on a hot day, Patrick and Lauren Gettleman and Shelly Shawgo served ice cream. This part was sponsored by United Community Bank.

The last day to turn in Lincoln Public Library District book logs and receive a "Reading Colors Your World" tie-dye t-shirt is Saturday, July 31.

During the Balloon Festival Saturday, August 28, Lincoln Public Library District is sponsoring a Family Fun Day. Senator Sally Turner will be doing story time with craft booths and Sharp’s Shaved Ice Truck at the library. August 25-28 will wrap up the library’s annual book sale.

[Angela Reiners]