Friday, September 7, 2012

Soa Soa


We recently went to the Cairns Tropical Zoo--which is becoming a favourite of mine, and I got the opportunity to once again observe and spend some time with one of my favourite 'inmates'!  It is a Soa Soa or Philippine Sailfin Lizard.  Now in reality I am not a great fan of either snakes or lizards but I do like admiring the large or unusual ones while I am safely protected by the glass enclosure...but somehow this lizard affected me differently.  He has both times I have had the pleasure of interacting with him.
He has such personality and really responds to movement and me!  When I was there the other day I gently touched the glass cage wall and he stopped and looked at me, and then as I moved my finger he followed it, very quickly!  I had so much fun playing with him!  At one stage as he moved backward and forward in his glassed enclosure, he even tried to climb the glass to get a better view of me, or what I was doing....he would then stop and raising a leg and paw, would 'wave' at me as he stared at me, as much as I stared at him.  I especially loved it when he did that, and I was flat out trying to remember to take photos of him at the same time....
 
When I started to spend so much time with him, and was making him respond to my actions, other people in the area began to slow down and stop to see what I was doing.  He would stop his actions and just sit still, and yet when they left, and just I was alone with him, he would start to perform again for me.. I had so much fun with him!
After awhile, Chris and I decided to leave and catch up with Flip and the grand kids who were busy feeding the kangaroos,  so I sadly said goodbye to my Soa Soa, and he watched my every move as I yet again took another photo of him, promising him that this wouldn't be my last visit!  He watched me start to close my camera, and just stood transfixed....I knew then that he was very photogenic and wanted more photos, so I obliged..this is a photo of him posing--and believe me, he was posing!
 
I promised to come back to see him, and just as I was turning to leave a young couple came up and started to see what I was looking at. I explained to them that if they took the time, this little guy would attempt to talk with them to, and putting my finger against the glass where his nose was--I said goodbye, and he instantly put up his leg on the glass, as if to say good-bye for now....What an interesting guy he was--now he could very easily turn me into a lizard aficionado!!
 
 
 
 

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