Eleven Views of the Smithsonian National Zoo #8

Next stops were quick hops.  It was nearly noon and I was hungry.  So I visited the Great Ape house and then the exterior yard where I discovered two of the zoos three mature male Western Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla).  The larger of the two tracked down the smaller Gorilla.  Then he displayed by beating his stomach and charged him against a concrete wall where upon he snatched a burlap sack from him and draping over his shoulders proceeded to climb back up from the lower wall and parade his booty around the confines of the yard.  The other Gorilla just sat against the lower wall, pouting.  It was really a thrilling display of Alpha power.

 Then I ran through the Reptile house.  Another really old structure that has been retrofitted and updated over time.  I was struck by the Romanesque architecutre and a pair of interior doors that seemed to be direct references to Bellini's doors on the Baptistery of Il Duomo in Florence, Italy.

 Still, been there so many times that I didn't stop to focus on any particular animals, mostly.  The sun was making any good photo of the larger animals (crocs and gators) impossible.  The halls were crowded.  I only took time to snap one image.  It was of a Caiman Lizard (Dracaena guianensis).  I'll return to spend more time here on a winter's day.