Aesop lives in zoos and gardens

 Aesop lives in zoos and gardens

"The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted."- Aesop

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Hippo, a fiend or a friend,

when alive, and in stone;

can we conserve the wild

in memory of stone? 

A stone hippopotamus greets visitors at Bangkok's Safari World. 

Author's daughter Anna playfully poses for souvenir. ca 2005

A duo with dumb faces  and sultry eyes,

greets guests at feeding time,

a herd watches at  a distance, awaits;

to give or not to give a crime.

Bangkok's Safari World, ca 2005. 

  

What a reputation you have and your kin,

hawk, kite, owl - all birds of prey;

keen eyesight, sharp claws, hooked beak,

yet the most endangered today

 Sea eagle, La Union Botanical Garden, ca 1986

Fierce looking, yet shy this iguana

when hungry and begging,

darts on any thing, food-like thrown,

Aesop lesson in the offing. 

Iguana, Avilon Zoo, San Mateo Rizal, ca 2005

It's a log!  It's a rock!

 No, it's a crocodile!

in the swamp or hall,

it's the biggest lie.

Philippine Crocodile, Tagaytay Zoo, ca 2005

 

Skipper - relative of the moth and butterfly, 

yet neither nocturnal nor diurnal;

no wonder it's seen only at dusk time,

breaking away, never fraternal.

The skipper belongs to Lepidoptera like the moth and butterfly.  It is crepuscular, active only at dusk.  It has pairs of false eyes, a pair distinctly large on the front wings, designed to scare predators. 

* Aesop was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. Born: 621 BC, Nessebar, Bulgaria, Died: 565 BC, Delphi, Greece