|
 Silly
Safaris is an animal conservation animal show. Someone from Silly
Safaris has been doing the last show of the summer for several years
and it has been very popular with everyone.
Rhino Ryan, who is from Indianapolis, said all the animals he had
with them were real and not stuffed.
One question Rhino Ryan often gets is do they bite. He said, “yes,
they do bite, but you have a better chance of being bit by a person
sitting next to you” than his animals.
The first animal Rhino Ryan brought out was Hoosier,
an owl from Eurasia. He warned everyone Hoosier would probably do
something calling “bating” which is a fancy word for flying away.
However, Rhino Ryan had a leash attached to her long talons, so she
could not actually fly away.
The kids first said Hoosier was scary, but Rhino Ryan said she was
not scary at all. They were excited when Hoosier flapped her wings.
Hoosier is nocturnal, so she sleeps during the day and will say
“who” to other owls during the night. Hoosier’s eyes do not move, so
she has to turn her head about 355 degrees to see anything not in
front of her. If Hoosier turned her head 360 degrees in a full
circle, Rhino Ryan said it would fall off.
An owl’s sharp talons are used to pick up other animals to eat.
Rhino Ryan has heard stories of owls picking up very large animals.
When Rhino Ryan was done showing Hoosier to everyone, he covered her
cage, which kept her calm.
Next up was a baby possum named Forest. Rhino Ryan
said Forest is just two months old and has been at Silly Safaris for
a month. Forest loves being on Rhino Ryan’s shoulder.
Possums look somewhat cute when they are younger, but possums bare
their teeth when they get older to scare people away.
Another way Rhino Ryan says possums keep people away
is by “playing possum.” Rhino Ryan said when a possum does that,
they are playing dead. Other animals do not want to eat a dead
animal, so will they walk away and leave the possum alone. When the
danger is gone, the possum will get back up and run for safety.
A possum uses its hands and tail to help climb. Possums hang upside
down by their tails, too. Just like kangaroos, possum babies stay in
their mom’s pouch when they are young. Rhino Ryan said when possums
come out of the pouch, they ride around on their mom’s back. Like
owls, possums are nocturnal, sleeping during the day.
Before bringing out Crunch and Munch, Rhino Ryan
chose someone brave. Crunch and Munch are Madagascar hissing
cockroaches. Rhino Ryan said these cockroaches often scare more
people than any of the other animals he brings. When Rhino Ryan
brought them out, the volunteer decided to move away from them.
When Madagascar hissing cockroaches are scared, they hiss and bite.
Rhino Ryan said the cockroaches will eat about anything, including
their neighbor. The cockroaches clean themselves eight times a day.
Without bugs like cockroaches, Rhino Ryan said people would be
walking on trash, dead animals and plants when we walk into the
library.
At the Indy 500, Rhino Ryan said they had some
cockroach races.
As Rhino Ryan demonstrated, these cockroaches can even be used as
bedazzled roach broaches. He joked if you take one into an expensive
restaurant, put it on your plate and scream, you will probably get
your meal free and get your jewelry back.
Fairy tales are something Rhino Ryan enjoys, so he did a little
Silly Safari theater presentation. Rhino Ryan chose a volunteer
named Ada to play a princess. When Rhino Ryan read the story, he
told everyone to say “aw” when he said beautiful princess and “yay”
when they heard Prince Bubba.
The story was about a beautiful princess a long time ago in a land
far, far away. Everybody loved the princess and when she came out of
the castle, people would run to her and sit at her feet. They would
want to hear stories and want to hear her sing [which Princess Ada
chose not to do]. Rhino Ryan said the princess was like the Taylor
Swift of the country.
On the other side of the country, Rhino Ryan said there was a prince
named Bubba. Everyone loved him. He was strong, handsome and
charming.
One little old lady did not like him. Rhino Ryan said
the old lady happened to be a witch. The witch turned Bubba from a
handsome strong prince into a charming, adorable frog.
Bubba did not want to be a frog anymore. Rhino Ryan
said Bubba needed a kiss from a beautiful princess to turn back into
a prince. Since frogs are a bit wet from sitting in water, Princess
Ada did not want to kiss him. Instead, she gave the frog a high
five.
Because frogs like mealworms, Rhino Ryan fed Bubba several
mealworms. Frogs stick out their tongues to catch their food and
then close their eyes to eat. Rhino Ryan said closing their eyes
helps frogs push food into their bellies. Frogs eat bugs, lizards,
birds and even other frogs close to their own size.
When Rhino Ryan brought out the next animal, it was
asleep. BB8 was a three banded armadillo. He said the ones found in
the United States are nine banded armadillos. BB8 had fallen asleep
earlier in the morning. Rhino Ryan said BB8 might sleep until 6 p.m.
and then be awake all night.
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BB8 loves to play and have his forehead petted. Rhino
Ryan said the keratin on the skin gives them a hard shell. Because
the shell is hard, predators often break their teeth trying to bite
armadillos. Armadillos roll up into a ball to keep themselves from
danger. They love to play fetch and their long fingernails are used
for digging.
When BB8 peered out at everyone briefly, there were shouts of
excitement from the kids.
Fairy tales need dragons, so Rhino Ryan brought Mushu
the bearded dragon. To scare people and other animals away, bearded
dragons puff out their chins. They also stick out their tongues and
repeatedly do push-ups to intimidate others.
The bearded dragon is a type of lizard. Mushu is from
Australia. Rhino Ryan said Mushu likes to sit on a high rock to see
predators and bugs.
When another bearded dragon wants to sit on the same rock, Mushu
will stick his tongue out. The bearded dragons will do “push up
contests” to claim their spot on the rock. The one who stops first
loses. However, they cannot climb well.
Bearded dragons have eyes on the side of their head,
so they have to turn their head to see. Rhino Ryan had the kids put
their hands up in front of their eyes like goggles. The kids could
see when they did that, but when they rotated their hands so their
hands were by their ears, the kids could not see people next to
them.
The spikes of bearded dragons are “super-duper soft” like hair.
Rhino Ryan said when a predator comes along to eat them, the bearded
dragon blows up like a balloon and its spikes go straight out. The
predator will decide it cannot swallow the bearded dragon, so it
leaves the bearded dragon alone.
Bearded dragons make good pets because they are easy to take care
of. Rhino Ryan said they eat vegetables, fruit and insects. Mushu
ate corn on the cob the other day.
The last two animals were ones Rhino Ryan said would be the
dangerous part of the show. If these animals got loose, he told
everyone to look for the nearest exit. Rhino Ryan said they may need
to run to safety. If an adult was slowing the kids down, Rhino Ryan
joked they could trip the adult to get past.
Before Rhino Ryan brought out the next animal, he told everyone it
had big red eyes. When people say what big claws the animal has,
Rhino Ryan said the better the claws are to run with. The claws are
like cleats athlete wear.
People will say what big ears the animal has. Rhino Ryan said these
[ears] are the better to hear you with.
The animal Rhino Ryan brought out was a bunny. In Indiana, Rhino
Ryan said people hear stories about evil bunnies. For example,
Little Bunny Foo Foo hops through the forest, picks up field mice
and bops them on the head. Rhino Ryan said that is bullying. Peter
Rabbit steals vegetables out of Mr. McGregor’s garden. Rhino Ryan
even considers the Easter Bunny evil since he hides candy from kids.
The lawnmower and neighborhood dog end up finding the candy.
The bunny Rhino Ryan brought was named Bunnicula. His
name comes from a book in the library about a weird rabbit with red
eyes, who looks like a vampire. Things keep happening to the
family’s vegetables. Rhino Ryan warned children Bunnicula’s red eyes
may be scary.
For the final animal, Rhino Ryan asked for a volunteer. A boy named
Damien volunteered and Rhino Ryan renamed Damien “dinner.” Rhino
Ryan said the animal he was going to bring out was a hugger not a
biter. It just wanted to love, hug and squeeze him to death.
The animal turned out to be a snake named Wilson. The
volunteer ran and sat down when he saw Wilson.
Snakes squeeze their prey until they appear to be dead. The snakes
then eat their food headfirst. Rhino Ryan said snakes open their
mouths wide and their mouths split in half at the bottom. Snakes
have sixty teeth, and slowly drag their prey into their mouths. It
can take snakes several hours to eat.
Fortunately, everyone was safe, because as Rhino Ryan said, kids’
heads and shoulders make them too big for Wilson to eat.
Rhino Ryan had Wilson around his neck like a scarf and Wilson
appeared very calm. Wilson likes Rhino Ryan’s warm neck and vest and
sometimes licks Ryan’s ear. Snakes smell with their tongues.
Once Rhino Ryan had shown everyone all his animals,
he said people could come pet the snake and the bunny.
There were three things Rhino Ryan asked the kids to do:
1. Pet the snake and bunny’s backs.
2. Wash their hands with soap after petting the snake and bunny.
3. Find a book about one of the animals he brought.
A book Rhino Ryan said those who liked snakes might like was “The
Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Laundry.” For those who like frogs, there is
a great series called “Frog and Toad.”
One of Rhino Ryan’s favorite books is “Oh Yuck: the Encyclopedia of
Everything Disgusting.” The book talks about snakes, blood, poo and
other great stuff.
If you get peed on by animals, Rhino Ryan said you have five years
good luck. He joked that he has one thousand years of good luck
stored up.
Once the program was done, the kids and some adults lined up to pet
the snake and bunny. Both animals stayed calm as people touched
them.
Thursday was the final big program for the summer.
Those who are completing summer reading logs need to turn them in by
next Monday, July 22.
[Angela Reiners] |
