South Dakota, Sioux Falls - Monday, August 19, 2013 - Sherman and Sertoma Parks

Sherman Park is just down the road from the RV park where we are staying.  Its 205 acres house the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History, the USS South Dakota Battleship Memorial, the South Dakota Hall of Fame, Indian Burial Mounds and nine softball diamonds.

Today we visited the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History.  We were really impressed with both facilities.  They are part of the parks department and someone puts a lot of thought and time into the natural environments for the animals and the realistic displays at the museum.

My favorites at the zoo were:

The Rare Rhinos of Africa.  The two Rhinos are a new part of the zoo.  They are huge!

 

Giraffes and zebras.  Did you know that giraffes have seven vertebrae in their necks just like humans, they are just bigger.

 

 

Galapagos tortoise are native to the volcanic Galapagos Islands off the west coast of Ecuador.  They can live to be 200 years old and can weigh up to 600 pounds.  There were four of them at the zoo, they looked like big boulders sitting in the grass.  All of them were grazing very slowly.  They are listed as an endangered species.

 

The penguins were just hanging out around the cool air ducts today.

Everyone wanted to hang out in the shade, except this big alligator.  I tried to get Greg to do something to provoke him so he would open his mouth.  As you can see that didn’t happen.

 

The King Vultures have beautiful color.  I was taking a picture of this one

 

 

Then the other one flew up like he wanted his picture taken too.

Peacocks were roaming the grounds, this one had babies.

 

Attached to the zoo is the Delbridge Museum of Natural History.  There are displays from several of the continents.  The batteries on my camera were getting low and we left the extra batteries in the bike so I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked.  There is a collection of 150 mounted animals, including 36 “vanishing species”.  Many of the displays have been constructed to look like the animals natural habitat.

 

 

We stopped to have lunch that we brought from home.  I made enough pasta salad yesterday to feed an army.

 

Our next stop was Sertoma Park which is home to the Game, Fish and Parks Department, the Sertoma Butterfly House & Marine Cove and the Outdoor Campus where kids can learn about nature through hands on classes and by exploring the nearby walking trails and ponds.

The Sertoma Butterfly House & Marine Cove had lots of flowers and milkweed in their gardens outside to attract monarch butterflies.

 

 

The Marine Cove had several large aquariums – I liked these guys but I forgot to write down what they were, I think they are Lion Fish.  Also, see the Rock Fish on the back wall by the grate – the sign said it was the most poisonous fish in the world its sting can kill an elephant.  It just looks like an ordinary rock, it didn’t say where you find these things – just one more reason to stay out of the water.

The Butterfly House is a tropical conservatory with 800 free-flying exotic butterflies.  Before we went in the sign said if a butterfly lands on you “give it a ride”.  Just after we entered we met this guy who is one of the guides – I almost left right then.  A butterfly landing on me is one thing but if the things that could land on you in here included this thing, I was gone.

As it turned out it was his and the only one there, but I didn’t stick around to talk to him for very long.

Butterflies were everywhere

 

 

They also had some tiny Button Quail running round.  When they are full grown they are only about the size of baby chicks.

We stopped in briefly at the Outdoor Campus.  It is similar to Kids Commons in Columbus, IN with an outdoor theme.  Instead of going into the world’s largest toilet, the kids could go into this huge fish.

 

The temperature here today is 85 and visiting the parks was a great way to spend the morning and early afternoon.