On Saturday, October 1 I went to the National Zoo and saw many different exhibits.  Two of the exhibits that were required of us were the Bird House and Reptile House.  I extremely liked the Reptile House even though I generally do not like reptiles.  In there, I saw many different species of snakes, lizards, frogs, salamanders, turtles, alligators, etc.  My favorite were the frogs.  The different colors of frogs ranged from anything in the rainbow spectrum, and each specie had their own special "look" (whether they looked wet, dry, small, shiny, etc).  I learned that the majority of the colored frogs live in the amazon, or where the climate is hot and humid.  Also, the frogs are very poisonous, and that they can cause serious skin irritations or even kill, with any direct contact with them.

The chameleon was another reptile that I found to be very interesting.  It's head was flat, and the tail, long.  Depending on the chameleon's sense of threat, they can change colors to match their surrounding so to become difficult to find by their predators.

 

In the Bird House, I saw a range of birds that are common to our area, such as the ducks, and birds that are rare to our area, such as the Indian Peafowl.  The one species i found to be the most interesting were the Flamingos.  Although Flamingos are commonly used as a symbol (such as the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas), there are many facts about them in which I never knew before.  The common color of pink for Flamingos is not an accurate representation of the color they really are.  At birth, Flamingos are born gray.  But as they mature, their feathers begin to change into pink.  Also, when they sleep, they sleep standing on one leg.  The other leg is tucked into their body of feathers, and so are their heads.

 

However, besides just the two mandatory exhibits, we also explored the other parts of the zoo.  A consensus of our favorite was the pandas by far.  The two pandas, Mei Xing and Tian Tian were both asleep when we went.  One was alsleep in a little cave made of rocks.  She was asleep on her back, with one foot propped up against the back wall of the cave.  The other was sprawled on its belly on a tree log.  Both of them were sweet in dream, and although they did not move much, they were still fun to watch.

 

Overall, I liked the zoo field trip very much.  The only part that I did not like was the commute there.  Just the travelling there took about 2 hours!  But besides that, it was fun.