Archive for the ‘tigers’ Category
Our last stop on our way home was at the Knoxville Zoo. One really nice perk of a zoo membership is reciprocal agreements with other zoos. Most either offer free admission or give a signficant discount to members of other zoos. In Knoxville, all we had to pay for was parking. Our museum membership has a similar network–definitely a great way to support local institutions and at the same time save money on vacation.
It was, however, a somewhat grey day, with showers on and off. There were very few other attendees, as the animals were also taking it easy. The river otter, however, was having a good time doing back flips.
They have a striking profile.
My daughter has been taking up the photo habit as well.
There were a pair of non-releasable bald eagles hanging out.
The red wolf is a very endangered species. The core wild population is actually in my old neck of the woods: southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas.
I think we woke the lion.
We went to go see the Malayan tigers, where a keeper was just wrapping up a talk.
We spoke with the keeper. Tam, and his brother, were cubs five years ago in the Cincinnati Zoo. They were some of my first cat photos! I showed them a few baby pics, with a lot of “awwws.” They looked at my favorite shot of them, below, and they thought it might be Tam.
The drizzle picked up, and Tam got bored of us.
The centerpiece of the Knoxville Zoo is their Red Panda Village.
In fact, more red pandas have been born in Knoxville, 101, than any other zoo in the Western Hemisphere. Only a Dutch zoo has had more.
Red pandas are the only remaining true panda species. The giant panda–the black and white kind–are actually bears.
Red pandas were actually discovered (and named) first.
They also happen to be my daughter’s favorite animal.
We had a lot of fun wrestle and chase each other.
Pounce!
We could have spent a long time watching the firefoxes, as red pandas are also known, play. However, we had to make our way back to Cincinnati.
Our path back to Cincinnati from Florida took us through South Carolina. We took a break at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, in Columbia. It was a smaller zoo, but had some wonderful exhibits. The first thing we saw was one of my wife’s long-standing favorites, koalas.
We saw two, each in their own tree. We looks a bit closer, and realized our count was off.
One of the koalas had a joey, a little baby, sleeping snuggly with its mom.
Neither did much other than doze. We talked to a keeper, who showed us a video on her phone of the joey riding around on its mother’s back. Cute!
The koalas weren’t the only antipodal animal.
Dragons were hanging out.
One thing I did not like, at least in th aquarium/reptile area, was the lack of signage. I’m not sure if this is an alligator or crocodile. He looked happy either way.
Perhaps because they were playing “dogpile on the turtle.”
One of the many things I learned reading Bill Nye’s book, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, is that a group of giraffes is called a “column.”
They had a pretty good cat collection, divided between large and small cats. In fact, they had the largest cat, the Amur tiger.
They had two lions, this handsome male…
…and this shy female (actually, she was just washing her face).
WINK!
The website indicated they had black-footed cats. Other sources didn’t mention BFCs, but did allude to fishing cats. We weren’t sure what we’d get to see. We first came across a pair of fishing cats.
They are among my favorite felids. We got to see a surprising number of different cats on this trip: snow leopards, jaguars, cougars, leopards, tigers, lions, servals, caracals, lynes, bobcats, fishing cats, sand cats, and black-footed cats. Fourteen in all (fifteen if you include a felis silvestris catus we saw at a bookstore).
I like to take pictures of cats yawning.
As I mentioned, they had a representative of the largest of the cat family, the Amur tiger. The black-footed cat is the second smallest cat.
They are fierce predators–I wouldn’t want to meet one in a dark alley. These two, however, were having fun peeking around their log.
It was a fun stop, and we enjoyed seeing some of our favorite animals.
Tampa is home to Big Cat Rescue, a rescue for, well, big cats. Big Cat Rescue is home to cats that have retired from circuses or part of the exotic pet trade. We took the opportunity to join one of the tours of their facility.
Big Cat Rescue got its start when rescuing bobcats from a fur farm. It takes forty bobcats to make a fur coat, and they are usually kept and killed in a brutal fashion. There really is no humane fur.
Their cougars (or, as they are known in Florida, panthers) were having a mellow afternoon.
Bengali was a circus tiger, moved from city to city. He seems quite relaxed here.
He keeps it clean.
Big Cat Rescue’s odd couple are also retired circus cats: Zabu, a female white tiger, and Cameron, a male lion.
Cameron had to be neutered to ensure he and Zabu wouldn’t create a hybrid (a liger). Because of the reduced testosterone, he no longer can grow a mane.
Hybrids are a serious issue: usually, they are caught between competing sets of instincts, and have health issues. Jojo, a caracal/serval hybrid, has serious digestive system issues. While I would not want to create hybrids, I do think he’s a very striking cat.
Sabre is a melanistic leopard. He was a pet, but abandoned by his owner. Fortunately he made his way to big cat rescue.
Why do I find myself drawn to silly black cats?
He does have striking eyes.
Frosty is one of their many servals.
Many of these cats were pets, who, well, aren’t domesticated animal. they have no reason to be in someone’s house.
When such animals are surrendered by their owners, they sign a contract to never own another exotic cat.
My personal favorite was their caracal pair, Sassy…
..and Rusty.
Big Cat Rescue is a great organization, committed to the welfare of their cats. They advocate against the many ways wild cats, when put in inappropriate settings, are a problem. We need more folks looking out for animals in these circumstances. The humans are at fault, as they expect the cat to act in a tame fashion, millenia of instincts to the contrary. Unfortunately, too often, it’s the animal that is punished.
From Philadelphia, we went south to our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Our first stop there was the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, otherwise known as the National Zoo. There were several animals we wanted to see, and was an amazing campus.
On entry, a prairie dog peeked up to greet us.
But, let’s face, it, I was there to see cats. The National Zoo did not disappoint. There were two sets of lion cubs, for a total of seven.
They were getting into everything!
…and on to everyone!
There dad is Luke, a very handsome dude.
If I’m reading this right, he’s the father of John, the new African lion at the Cincinnati zoo. Good looks clearly run in the family. And he knows it.
But, seven cubs can be exhausting!
There were also two tiger cubs and their mom. The cubs are right at a year old.
They like to stalk…
…have a drink…
…and, of course, take a nap. They are cats, after all.
I was excited to see a caracal, a cat they don’t have at very many zoos.
He was a bit shy.
The caracal decided to wander off. As a cat geek, I understood, even if I think I was one of the few who was most excited to see them.
As is often the case, the caracal was positioned near a bobcat.
We got to see a snoozing sand cat.
And a snoozing clouded leopard. Like I said, they’re cats; they sleep.
Another sleeping cat we saw was an old friend. Lek is a fishing cat, born in Cincinnati. I have pictures of him and his brothers as cubs.
This Queen City boy has fathered four cubs with Electra, a female.
We like cheetahs.
My daughter has also started taking photos at zoos, getting her own perspective on the animals.
There were seven Asian small clawed otter pups.
Some were busy constructing something.
Others…less so.
I’m always amused at zoos when there are animal “tourists.” Usually it’s a squirrel or some birds. The elephants appeared to have a pet deer.
The keepers seemed to indicated this was an ongoing problem, but didn’t really pose a danger to either species.
Meet the Ruppell’s griffon vulture. While this one was hanging out on the ground, these are the highest-flying bird on the planet. They are typically cited as flying in the thin air at 20,000 feet, though there are records of them being as high as nearly 40,000 feet.
Lots of turtles on a log.
Degu are small rodents native to South America.
I’m becoming quite the fan of the burrowing owl.
We had a great day at the National Zoo, and walked over its great expanses.
Our summer vacation took us eastward this year. Our first stop was Philadelphia. There, we checked out the Philadelphia Zoo, the nation’s oldest zoo. I was rather impressed by their animals, as well as the enrichment they were afforded.
One of the neatest bits of enrichment was Zoo360 Animal Exploration Trail, a series of enclosed paths for animals to meander. They had it for primates, but I first encountered some goats.
But the coolest was yet to come: Big Cat Crossing. This path allowed their lions, jaguars, leopard, cougars, and snow leopards to explore the zoo. When we were there, a pair of tiger brothers, born at the Columbus Zoo, were watching the crowds.
They really are handsome cats.
In the big cat area, we also got to see lions.
Maya, a female snow leopard was there with her two (older) cubs, Buck and Ranney. The cubs were quite active, pouncing and wrestling with each other.
Though her kids tried to get her into the mix, Mama Maya decided to stay above the fray.
Such a pretty snow leopard!
The tiger girls were in their enclosure, stalking.
One came right up to the glass I was crouching by to take pictures, and sprayed right next to me. At first I was disgusted, until my daughter pointed out by “marking” me, she was claiming me. I was…honored…really.
There were black-footed kittens!
Of course, they were all asleep. Still quite cute.
Was this one getting up?
Nope. Just shifting.
A Canadian lynx sat in the sun.
There was a cheetah nearby. A keeper gave a talk, discussing his encounters with different cheetahs who passed through his care. The cheetahs had a lure system, which the keeper seemed surprised was good enrichment for the worlds fastest mammal.
The series of tubes proves to be enrichment for homo saphiens, too.
My daughters new favorite animal is the red panda, which I’m a fan of, too.
Quite cute and fluffy!
O HAI!
Tony is a southern white rhino with a big horn!
Ever see a Galapagos tortoise cuddle puddle?
Serious close-up!
I liked watching the maned wolf. Such striking color.
Having obsessed over their pens lately, it was nice to see brown pelicans Crackle and Snap.
Overall, I really enjoyed the Philadelphia Zoo. It was a good size for walking around and spending a day, and they clearly cared a lot about their animals. And the animals seemed to enjoy each other.
We’re running out of tigers.
In the last century, we’ve gone from over 100,000 tigers to 3,000 tigers in the wild. There are more captive tigers in the United States than in the wild–only six percent of which is in AZA accredited zoos.
Today is International Tiger Day, a day to bring attention to the plight of these great cats.
Poaching is a large part of this, but habitat lose is the key thing.
How can you help? Palm oil is causing a great deal of habitat lose for these great cats. Select products using sustainable palm oil. The Cincinnati Zoo actually has a cool web app to help you make tiger-friendly choices.
My daughter has been at camp this month, leaving my wife and I alone. This gave us a weekend to ourselves. We felt that the combination of being temporarily childless and our anniversary entitled us to a romantic weekend away…
To Akron.
Not an obvious choice, but there were a couple things we thought would want to do. One of the things we wanted to check out was the Akron Zoo. Zoos are a favorite of my family, but, in particular, we wanted to see Malaya and Makalu, their baby snow leopards.
They weren’t quite three months old when we got to see them, and were only out for about an hour-and-a-half. There was a line to see them–groups were allowed to go to the window, and you could get back in line (which we did–four times). It was actually well run. When we got there, Malaya, the girl, was climbing about as snow leopards (and, really, all kittens) are want to do.
Her brother was dozing at first.
On our second pass, he moved to the other side, where he could see the deer in the next enclosure.
It was then that we realized that Shanti, their mother, was in there with her. She was quite stunning.
With mom around, everyone settled in for a nap (and a family portrait).
I have a 16:9 aspect ratio version of this photo for use as wallpaper on Flickr.
We walked by the snow leopard enclosure later–it was near the entrance–and Roscoe, the father was out. He was equally handsome.
If a bit cheeky.
Near the snow leopards was a cool jaguar.
Jaguars are one of three cat species who enjoy going in water (along with tigers, and, of course, fishing cats). This jaguar wanted his floaty.
Got it!
Speaking of tigers, Jae Jae was dozing. Cats do sleep a good chunk of their days.
Shani and Tamarr, the lion couple looked quite magnificent on their perch.
The second most interesting cat was an example of felis silvestris catus, a domestic cat.
She was stealing the food from a pair of storks.
We were told that this was a stray who had a kitten. The keepers were trying to catch her, but haven’t had much luck. They said that the storks don’t seem to mind. The cat, however, got a bit annoyed when they took a step too close.
One thing we did learn in all this is that storks are carnivores. I hadn’t really considered it one way or the other.
The birds were pretty cool. They had five non-releasable bald eagles.
I’m afraid I got a bit too close to the burrowing owl. Once again, I’m sorry, little guy!
The flamingos were hanging about in their pond. They always make me think of my mom.
Two different canids were present. We loved watching the coyote run around, even without a road runner.
Happy guy!
Next door, a red wolf napped in the sun.
“Why did you wake me?” (We didn’t really wake him, but he did look like he could use a cup of coffee.)
The otters got a great tank to swim in, and we could easily get different views of them–and them us!
I love to see red pandas, even when they are in a ball, as Zheng demonstrates.
There was a small aquarium, which had lionfish, a favorite of mine.
And a Galapagos tortoise sunning himself.
I really liked the Akron Zoo. It is a smaller zoo, but all the enclosures seemed very up to date. Their app is awesome, and gives the names for many animals (in some cases, I couldn’t tell who’s who, but nice to have some idea). They had some neat displays, such as one showing how coral exhibits photoluminescence.
There was a slide that went through part of the otter’s tank. They could easily stay away from it, but I saw them swim along with sliding kids (or, kids at heart).
There was a cool sculpture by the eagles.
One think I really liked was that almost every enclosure had a tag for an advocacy group for that animal. For instance, by the snow leopards, there was one for the Snow Leopard Trust. Appropriately, I was wearing one of their t-shirts.
We had a great time at the Akron Zoo, and definitely think we’ll need to go back with our daughter.
The Marvin Lewis Community Fund sponsored Learning is Cool. Cincinnati Public School students who were on the “A” honor role twice were invited to an evening at the zoo, and receive a medal, given by members of a local sports team. Once again, my daughter was on the “A” honor role four times. Of course we would go to the zoo!
John the lion has a new pal, Imani.
She’s pretty!
John must think so, too, as he’s trying to look his best.
They do make a cute couple.
Nearby cheetahs were looking like bookends. No runs were scheduled that evening.
Gizmo, an African white-faced owl, was out. We saw him before. He’s quite cute.
A red panda was in the tree, grooming.
One of the Malayan tigers was demonstrating his camouflage in the tall grass.
A cougar was relaxing in a less-than-camouflaged fashion.
The highlight for me was Nubo and Renji.
The snow leopard duo were bouncing off the walls!
Who says cheetahs are the only cats who can sprint.
We got to see a baby flamingo.
Later, they paraded by.
Before we left, we said “hi” to Louisiana girl Sayia.
It was an enjoyable evening at the zoo.
The Cincinnati Zoo made a couple of announcements since my last visit, neither of which involved cats. It was, however, for two of my favorite non-felids animals. We had a gorgeous day, so I decided to go check it out.
The first was Seyia, a black rhino. She just moved here from the Baton Rouge Zoo. Like most Louisiana girls, she’s very cute*.
I confess I haven’t watched too many rhinos interacting with people. This time, I was there when her keepers were having a session with her. It was clear that she had an interest–even a fondness–for her people. It was quite cute.
The keepers train the animals behaviors that will help them in the animal’s care. In this case, Seyia has learned how to present her foot for examination.
She seems to really like watermelon.
The other new arrival was Kilua, a baby okapi. She was born on November 30.
She is a very active girl!
The black bear was enjoying the sun.
As was this penguin.
Of course I stopped by the cats! Techumseh the cougar was being active.
They fed the caracal while I was there. I remind myself that, in the wild, small birds are commonly their prey. Today, they gave her a chick. It wasn’t alive, but a bit odd to see. I’m not posting the picture here, but I did link to the picture.
Renji and Nubo, the snow leopards, were relaxed. Nubo did raise his head to say “hi.”
The tigers were even more relaxed, melting into a puddle. Not the tongue.
*Louisiana girls are cute, but I do find myself partial to women from the Midwest. :)
I was surprised to realize that, in 2014, I haven’t been to a zoo. I’ve been to the Newport Aquarium, but the last time I saw non-fish was when we went to the Birmingham Zoo just before New Year’s Day. The Polar Vortex played a large role in that. With Spring and Zoo Blooms upon us, I’m sure we’ll be rectifying that, but it really had been far too long. When we had an opportunity to visit the Saint Louis Zoo, we were excited.
The Saint Louis Zoo is among the oldest zoos in the country, and has many of the original buildings (at once an interesting and depressing point). It’s also notable that, for what many regard as a top zoo, admission is free. If you look hard enough and/or don’t mind walking, the whole day can be of no charge to you.
The first animal we encountered was a Malayan sun bear. I confess I thought this small bear was a cub until someone clued me in.
Next door, a grizzly bear appeared to be sleeping one off.
We set out towards the big cats, making a stop to say “hi” to one of our new favorites, the red panda.
He climbed up to some of his favorite treat, bamboo.
A nearby prairie dog seems to have picked up the bamboo habit from his neighbor.
Some of the enclosures are historic. This isn’t uncommon in many zoos, though they do try to house species which are a better match to the space by modern criteria. There was one indoor area for some animals, such as the giraffe, where the age showed, and was retro in the sense that it wasn’t generally done. In there, I didn’t want to take pictures. I’m sure the animal welfare is considered–the Saint Louis Zoo is AZA accredited (the gold standard, in my opinion), and participates in Species survival Plans–but it seemed some upgrades were needed.
Another place this seemed to come out was in the big cat area. The animals did have plenty of space, but it did not seem to have the modern attempt at habitat like, say, Cat Canyon. The Amur tiger, largest of the felids, had plenty of space, but the area had an artificial bent.
He was able to confer with a next-door jaguar, again, in a seeming unnatural fashion. Neither cat seemed to be bothered by the presence of the other. Personally, I worry when two cats have too many conferences.
As you can see, the jaguar is melanistic–a panther! I couldn’t see spots from the distance, but I always love how light plays on a black cat’s coat.
I have a soft spot in my heart for black cats.
The lioness seemed to be having a chat by a gate.
The snow leopard took an afternoon nap.
The Amur leopard was also taking a nap.
Amur leopards are among the rarest cats in the world. There are 176 are in captivity, and less than thirty believed to be in the wild.
There were only three small cats on display, mostly due to their position on the purr/roar line. The snow leopard, cheetahs (who weren’t out on this dreary day), and cougars. They were also hanging out in a cave.
However, for some reason, they had a Bobcat in the black rhino’s enclosure.
The zebra grazed a bit.
One of the non-cats I always love is the okapi.
The oakpi are related to giraffe, which seems obvious from their tongues.
Two cow-like critters were represented. The bantang…
…and the takin. Not sure if he’s been promoted to Grand Moff.
A small herd of red kangaroos was munching on grass.
The sea lions were having an argument.
The Asian elephants kept their distance.
Hyenas always strike me as awkward looking.
My daughter is a huge otter fan.
A river otter surveyed his domain.
In the bird exhibit, a rhinoceros hornbill ate lunch.
I had never seen a bateleur eagle before, but was taken by his colors.
The crested wood partridge also had some great color.
The Bali mynah is a rare bird, with only sixty left in the wild.
The tawny frogmouths were hanging out.
A burrowing owl took a break from lunch to say “hi.”
Outside, there was a bald eagle.
His wings were impressive.
Overall, we had a great time at the Saint Louis Zoo.
Mr. Guilt's Blog 