Pallas Cats and Roaring Lions

It’s been a mild winter in Cincinnati, and yesterday was a particularly lovely day. My wife and daughter had a four-day weekend that I didn’t so they were out of town. I decided to visit the zoo right at opening, to catch the Night Hunters in day phase.

I did get some good pictures of fishing cats.

Do you think my mentioning sushi to them caught their attention?

I’m always amazed with their eyes.

I’m not the least bit surprised they like to play in water.

I wanted to try different settings on the camera, and some new software to process it, to see if I can get better pictures during night phase. While not as good as full light, I think the outcome is not bad.

The bobcat was very interested in what I was doing, standing right at the front of his enclosure.

Another handsome cat!

There are fennec foxes next door to the fishing cats. I’m not sure what they were looking at.

The caracal was just relaxing.

The one of the reasons the lights are still on is that the keepers are puttering around–a few enclosures are being cleaned. The sand cat was up and close to the glass.

Why? There is a door right across from their enclosure the keepers went in and out of. Presumably with their breakfast!

The black-footed cat just glared at me…

I swear I didn’t do anything to upset him!

The clouded leopard was up, saying, “OH HAI!” Clouded leopards are moving up my list of favorite cats.

Stretch!

The pallas cat is native to central Asia. I know many who follow this blog are fans.

They are roughly the same size as a house cat, though a lot…fuzzier. They also have longer tails to help provide balance as they climb over the mountainous terrain.

The Cincinnati Zoo is known for its conservation efforts, particularly for small wild cats. Their Center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Wildlife performs research into efforts to protect species. Last summer, they were able to have the first Pallas cat kittens born though artificial insemination. I walked back to their area for the first time yesterday. I didn’t see the kittens (their enclosure was marked–they might have been in some of the places set up for them to hide). Their parents, however, were quite visible.

So very fuzzy!

As I walked away from CREW, I heard the lion!

Listen!

Humans sleep with teddy bears. A polar bear demonstrates what bears sleep with.

The wolves certainly enjoyed the sunny day.

I also spent a good chuck of time watching the cougars.

They are also known as pumas, mountain lions, Florida panther, catamount, shadow cat, 10.1, red tiger, deercat, mountain devil, king cat, Mexican lion, mountain screamer, silver lion, sneak cat, and, most recently, 10.8.

Streeeeetch!

When I looked through my photos, I was amazed not at how many I took (I often take hundreds), but how many different animals I got good pictures of. In particular, I took a lot of pictures I normally don’t take pictures of. I developed a new appreciation for Pallas cats, and enjoyed a great day.