petardier

I never managed to see the last set of cubs using their pool. The zoo people seem to have given them pool privileges earlier this time, so there will be more opportunities.


Apparently there are few better jaguar pool toys than a sibling's tail.


Though jaguars can shake themselves dry very effectively, their tails continue to drip for quite some time after leaving the water.

Here's two photos of the Franklin Park Zoo's new tiger, Anala. She's about 6 months old. She was kind enough to pose for me, but her buddy Luther, the white tiger, spent all his time trying to get into the lion pen, which meant he was too far away for a good photo. The lion has been roaring, you see.




I do wonder just how long these trees will last.

I made a quick visit to the Stone Zoo last weekend, before the world turned wet.




Not a great photo, but imagine for a moment that the fence wasn't there.

BTW, I was walking near Spot pond on Thursday (must stay in shape for the upcoming trip). As I was getting back to the Stone Zoo, a distant siren sounded and the Zoo's grey wolves answered it. Amazing. I had a try at recording the wolves with my cell phone's voice memo feature, but failed.

Somebody gave the snow leopard a big paper bag to play with. I just couldn't get a good angle on this one. Still, it's amusing to know that cats of all sizes like paper bags.

This is a film shot converted to digital. Through the magic of telephoto, the wire mesh in front of these guys has been made invisible. This photo is probably a month old.




When I stopped by this week, I discovered I hadn't put the battery in the camera. The little wretches obviously knew it too. They re-enacted the entire Circle of Life musical production from the Lion King complete with the fourth verse that's only in the director's cut. It was in an obscure Tibetan dialect instead of the original Swahili, but it was still amazing.

The lynx's secret:


Salad in brown paper wrapper.

Ever wondered if jaguars were spotted on the inside?

Here you can see a snow leopard in mid-climb.




This is the first time the lynx has given me a chance for a really good photo.

After weeks of photos like this or no sightings at all,


The snow leopards have reappeared.

They weren't gone, just working on their "How to Hide" lessons. They may appear to be looking at the camera here, but they're really looking at a dog being walked just beyond the bounds of the zoo. I think the word balloon says, "Good with ketchup!".

I haven't seen many South Park episodes, but the one on Scientology was amazing. It was short on the gross humor that South Park is known for, but it was a lovely take-down of Scientology all the same. Midway through the story, they had an animated version of Scientology's secret doctrines or whatever they're called. The following banner was flashing throughout:
( Read more... )

As requested, something that's not depressing.


two-headed snow leopard cub!

Tomorrow I'll have another relevent and non-depressing entry.

The previously-mentioned snow leopard cubs are now visible from time to time at the Stone Zoo. They seem to let out in the vicinity of 11AM for between half an hour and an hour. They're not let into the regular exhibit space yet since they're not deemed quite coordinated enough yet. They've got all the cuteness they need though.







These wolf cubs are growing awfully fast.



In other news, one of the jaguar cubs (now over 1 year old) has been moved to another zoo. The remaining cub will be moving soon too.