Ocelots and Clouded Leopards at the Cincinnati Zoo

I went to the Cincinnati Zoo over the weekend. I’m becoming quite the regular. As I got hung up waiting for Mitt Romney’s motorcade, I missed the day phase. I was actually OK with that, as it gave me ample opportunity to test out my Night Hunter camera settings and processing. The fishing cats do come out a touch blue sometimes.

But there are spots where the difference is practically the same as with light.

I am going to make more of a conscious effort to post (if not take) only pictures which are somewhat special. I still want to go there and practice, as I want to develop techniques for when the zoo is not a few miles away. Plus, sometimes I do get an different view. Case in point: the caracal’s ear tuffs seem to have a bit of a following. This shot looked a little better than my last one, though similar.

Also, there seems to be one animal that chooses to do something different each visit. Today, it was the ocelot.

Ocelots are among the best tree climbers, able to so straight down head first. This branch wasn’t even close to a challenge.

I was actually able to get some neat shots of neofelis nebulosa, the clouded leopard.

I was particularly proud of how this shot came out–it was the combination of a good pose by my subject, and the techniques I mentioned earlier.

Cats have a knack for finding a perfect, just-their size spot to take a nap. The clouded leopard is no exception.

The pallas cat camouflage seemed quite effective today.

In other pallas cat news, I think I figured out that the two pallas cats in the CREW area I mentioned last time were actually pallas kittens, only a couple months younger than Beso and Luna. They are the first ones born as the result of artificial insemination.

Based on the litter boxes in their enclosure, I’m pretty sure they’ve moved from that spot.

The cougar was having a relaxing Sunday.

I went to see the giraffes, who were inside, making them smarter than me for a thirty-degree-day. I’ve never seen a giraffe laying down before.

While looking at the giraffe, I heard a dog bark from the Cat Ambassador area. I walked over a bit, and am pretty sure it is Pow Wow, one of their Anatolian shepherds. I waited a few minutes, and was rewarded with a cheetah siting and watching! The statues of Angel, their first cheetah ambassador, and Carrie, her cougar friend, were near the cheetah.