The Living Desert is an excellent zoo and botanical garden near Palm Springs. They specialize in numerous varieties of cows. They also have an enormous miniature train traveling through a number of faux mountain tunnels and across ravines on detailed little bridges. I was so awestruck by the wonder that I failed to take pictures.
These are Australia’s laziest animals, the wallowbees, so named because they spend their days wallowing in the dirt. So lazy are they that they’ve developed skin pouches to house their young to avoid carrying them!This rare type of tiny cow has short little prong-like horns! Bizarre!Genetic engineers at The Living Desert created this white cow to avoid over-heating in the desert sun. They developed the long, straight horns to serve as spear-fishing implements. Post mortem, of course.Stripedy cows consent only to have their butts photographed, a fetish common to their kind.This hideous cow has been extensively modified to produce a great hump (not shown in the photo) on its back. The hump is comprised entirely of filet mignon. Wagyu-grade. Yum yum!One final example of an odd cow produced at The Living Desert. This one is not genetically engineered. Instead, engineers stretch an ordinary calf on a rack until its neck is elongated, a practiced denounced as unnecessary by animal rights advocates.No one expected that a cross between a dog and a cat would result in such beauty. They call it a “cheetah,” ostensibly due to its refusal to follow the rules.I had hoped to see the wolves, but they were on holiday, visiting relatives in Mexico. The Living Desert substituted German shepherds in their absence.
