Spying on the poikilotherms

This post is overdue for a month or so, but finally here, as promised.

One of Chicago’s major attractions is the Shedd Aquarium, reportedly the largest indoor aquarium in the world, with more than 8000 exotic animals, several special exhibits, and, of course, Guinness. ;-)
Perhaps the most famous guy everywhere is a fat lizard who goes by the title dragon king of Komodo, has charming eyes, and skin so soft and smooth it makes gravel look like silk.
The lizards were my favourite exhibit, I like the lazy, cold blooded creatures. They are almost as cool as frogs, and pose well for portraits.
Baby beluga, probably the most famous if his kind, born right here at Shedd. Needless to say, he is a great face for marketing, and his posters are all over the town.
More lizards. Am I the only one who finds his majesty’s eyes creepy? Stare that down, Juliecorn!
The fish were a royal pain to photograph. Dark room, lot of movement, glass to focus through… never before had I so many pictures that were of unacceptable quality. Worse yet, it’s very difficult to judge on the small LCD display, which makes me wish I had waited for Nikon 300D. ;-) However, I was extremely pleased the performance, especially how well the noise was managed even at high sensitivity.
Here, it’s pretty clear that the glass is not as transparent as it should be, but still – it could have been much worse, so overall I was happy. Thanks to Satyam and Larisa for joining me, it was a nice trip. One last panorama shot as we were coming back home. Hooray for the light smog!