Photo of the Day: Day 4

Though you can't see their faces, this is a picture of Caleb and Isaac feeding a tapir. A what? you ask. A tapir. Tapirs are mammals that are native to South and Central America and parts of Asia. They are an endangered species, though probably not because they are so odd looking. We have seen these unusual animals many times during our sojourn in South America both in the wild and in captivity. However, this visit to a petting zoo just outside Caracas, was the first time we were so close to one. The petting zoo had all sorts of animals including llamas, alpaca, deer, cows, pot-bellied and regular bellied pigs, monkeys, donkeys, goats, birds, a very large camel and an ostrich. I don't know how familiar folks are with ostriches, but they are not at all friendly and they have an exceedingly sharp beak. I was stunned that the children were allowed to feed the flightless bird, so stunned in fact that I don't have a picture of Caleb dashing for safety from the gaping beak with his carrot trailing behind him. Ergo, we have this picture of the more subdued and far less menacing tapir.