My husband gave me a new camera recently and one of the really nice features is the 20x zoom lens. The zoom came in handy while I was photographing the Cheetahs at the
Living Desert Wildlife and Botanical Park. (You can click on the photos to enlarge the images.)
Accordng to the
cheetahspot website ... The name "cheetah" comes from a Hindi word meaning "spotted one" or from the Sanskrit word "chitraka". An adult has yellow or tan fur with solid black round or oval spots measuring .75 to 1.5 inches (1.9 to 3.8 centimeters) in diameter. The spots cover nearly the entire body; only the white throat and abdomen are unmarked.
The cheetah is aerodynamically built for speed and can accelerate from zero to 40 mph in three strides and to full speed of 70 mph in seconds. As the cheetah runs, only one foot at a time touches the ground. There are two points, in its 20 to 25 foot (7-8 metres) stride when
no feet touch the ground, as they are fully extended and then totally doubled up. Nearing full speed, the cheetah is running at about 3 strides per second.
From the fastest to one of the slowest. This Desert Tortoise actually moved fairly quickly! According to
DesertUSA... The Desert Tortoise is an herbivore that may attain a length of 9 to 15 inches in upper shell (carapace) length. The tortoise is able to live where ground temperatures may exceed 140 degrees F, because of its ability to dig underground burrows and escape the heat. At least 95% of its life is spent in burrows. There, it is also protected from freezing while dormant, November through February or March.
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Hi everybody... Trooper here! My dad took me hiking a couple of weeks ago along the Siberia Creek trail. No, we didn't hike all the way to Siberia... the trail is right here in the San Bernardino Mountains close to where we live! Here's a description from one of my dad's guidebooks. Siberia Creek Trail: 7 miles; very difficult. Altitude drop of 3,000 ft. This trail begins at the end of the Lodgepole Trail. It can be reached by using the Lodgepole Pine Trail or the Bluff Mesa Trail and terminates at Bear Creek near the Siberia Group Camp.
Here I am waiting for my dad to bring up the rear (as usual). He sure is a slowpoke but I cut him some slack because he's carrying a big backpack with all of our gear and the most important thing... my food and water! If you enlarge the photo you can see how wet I am. We had to hike through a rain storm but that's okay. I'm not made out of sugar... I won't melt! A little bit of rain never hurt anybody!
Can you see me in this photo? (You can click on the picture to make it bigger.) I'm the black blob in the lower left hand corner standing on the trail with my back to the camera.
I found this nice shady spot along the trail to take a little rest.
It sure is fun bringing all of you along on these hikes with me! My dad continues to buy camping equipment... (a tent, a sleeping bag, a stove and pots & pans). I think that means we're going to go on an overnight trip soon! I'll keep you posted... Love, Trooper
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