Norden's Ark

Who doesn't love animals? No, seriously. Who doesn't? I wanna know so I can tell them they should.

Hey, speaking of animals! Courtesy of everyone's favorite Grandma Brita, Pauline and I visited a zoo-like establishment known as Norden's Ark. Norden's Ark specializes in housing and maintaining endangered species, mostly of the Nordic variety.

This place had some animals I had definitely never seen and honestly never knew existed. Then of course there were the leopards, frogs, snakes, reindeer... Oh, well I guess I could just show you. Take it away Noah... I mean, Norden... with your sweet ark!Okay, so their sign wasn't exactly a huge eye catcher. Worry not though, gentle reader, the inside was considerably more exciting.This little pig/deer-ish looking fella is called a Pudu. If I remember correctly, he is native to South America. What he was doing all the way over in Sweden, I have no idea. What I do know, is I now want a Pudu to call my own.As requested by Paula, I give you a Swedish Squirrel in all his glory! Could a squirrel photo get any more legendary than this? It's like he just emerged victoriously from an epic adventure in the forest.As if those first two animals weren't cute enough... take a gander at this little hipster(that's all I could think to call him for some reason). A Red Panda! No, he's not a communist. Actually he might be, but anyway... he looks friendly, right?WRONG!! This dude will mess you up. Look at those teeth!Sadly, I forget the name for this type of horse. Help anyone? I know you know, Ulrika. Please save my blog! My ignorance is attacking!

WARNING: the next image may be disturbing to some... (sincerely, so skip one image if animal carcasses bother you)
The wolf was hiding on this day, but he forgot to clean up after lunch.On to a more beloved, family friendly creature... the Reindeer! Sure he's cool, but still not quite as magical as in the Christmas books. I feel almost wrong looking at him here. It's like seeing a celebrity without their makeup on.Time to play Find The Snow Leopard... Okay, this was a lot tougher in person. Why did I have to center him in the shot?
And here is a non... snow... leopard. So... a Leopard. Yeah.I'm not sure what this was, but I am pretty sure it's impossible not to want to be his/her friend.

After seeing(and not seeing) many other animals of all types including birds, wolverines(which we discovered I am apparently faster than thanks to Norden's sprinting test), mountain goats, sea otters, etc. we reached the end of the rather large park.
This guy was nice enough to wish us well on the way out. He said he'd miss us, then turned away(as can be seen here). I'm pretty sure he was trying to hold back tears. Ah, Rajah. We'll miss you too.

And now, as a thanks to all my readers, I leave you one more image of my favorite(as well as Pauline's) inhabitant of Norden's Ark...The Pudu! Look at him, love him, wish he was yours. I didn't have to tell you that of course. I'm sure you already did all of the above.

Thanks for reading. Check out the new poll relating to this post.

Soon to come... Smogen! Truly one of the coolest looking places I have ever been. See you there! Or... you can see me there. Sorry, that's the best I can do.

I hope you enjoyed Norden's Ark.

Sincerely,
That Animal Loving American Guy