I had a dream the other day, that large rodents and small rodents, tailed and tailless, brown and black and spotted, would all be featured in a special edition of National Geographic Magazine. That dream is, as yet, unfulfilled. The magazine cover shown above is a sham. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t made progress. It looks like at least one rodent, yours truly, may well appear in this prestigious periodical!
It all started when Melly got an email from an editor at National Geographic Magazine. Please note that this is the MAGAZINE and NOT the TV Show or the TV Channel. The magazine is the best thing because they have such wonderful photos and what could be more wonderful than a photo of a capybara?
Of course, getting those wonderful photos isn’t easy. It took Vince and his assistant Eric a long time to set up their equipment out at my pool just to try to get one such image. In the meantime, I started watching Sharknado on the SyFy channel with Melly, Coral and Flopsy, the Killer Cat.
It took the photographer a long time to set up but no so long that I had to–I mean, got to–watch all of Sharknado. That show is really long.
You might notice that I am foaming at the mouth a little. I really hope that doesn’t mean I have to go back to the vet.
I made quite a production out of getting into the pool. I hope Vince caught all of that nice paw action on film.
The article is going to be about the human/animal bond when the animal is an exotic. That meant that Vince didn’t just take photos of me, he took photos of me and Melly interacting.
It was 105 degrees F on Saturday so I think all of us were glad to be in the water. All of us except Eric, the assistant. He had to stay on land to move the lights and reflectors around and what not. I spent a good three hours in the pool. No reason to get out when people were giving me all that attention!
It’s hard to strike a bunch of different poses for a whole three hours, and that was only part of it! They were actually here both Saturday and Sunday. I’m pretty sure I was cute both days.
That’s a pretty cute photo of me and Melly. Coral took that, just imagine the amazing the images Vince must have gotten!
Coral took this with her camera phone! It’s low resolution (well, I cropped it a lot), but I think it is still pretty cute. I am not going to bite Melly on the head, she is getting ready to throw me over backward. That is my favorite game.
Eventually I had to get out! Enough with the pictures already!
After I get out of the pool, I like to mark the yard a bit just in case another capybara has been roaming around while I was swimming.
Turns out, Vince was still photographing me. This time it was video for the Nat. Geo. blog or something. Vince says a little video might improve my chances of getting in the magazine. As it happens, I might not actually make the magazine. Vince said he was photographing at least 18 animals and only 12 or so will make the grade. But I am the only rodent he is photographing so I’ll make it, won’t I?
Talk about the human/animal bond! I’m not sure Coral and Flopsy the Killer Cat actually have one. This is what they looked like while they were waiting for Vince and Eric to pack up their gear.
We all went out to lunch together and I was super cute! Only I think Vince didn’t have his camera out. And he might be upset that I spilled his beer.
It was a long two days and at the end of it Flopsy and I were exhausted. Vince was still taking some video but I’m afraid it is going to look just like a still–no action whatsoever.
The magazine with my image in it–if there is one–won’t be until at least Feb. 2014. That is a long time from now so we will probably all have forgotten about it. Then it will be a pleasant surprise to find me in it, or not so terribly disappointing if I am not there.