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La-la-la-la-la
- a day off at last, so Zoo, here I come. The warm, sunny
weather brought out oodles of people. I need to learn how
to take pictures in bright sunlight. :\
A highlight
for me meeting and talking to Dale Unruh, one of the Zoo's
official photographers. We met at the Lemur exhibit. His
camera had a 200x telephoto lens - drooooool ! I've
been looking at his pictures on the Web - they are very
beautiful. [link]
(His Zoo pics are about halfway down the page, and each
picture opens a gallery).
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Here's
my first look at the new Jaguar (unfortunately taken in
glaring sunshine through glass). He's five years old, from
Bolivia and the plan is to acquire a female for him soon
and deepen the gene pool a bit. Gordo, the elder jaguar
at this Zoo was "fixed" after he turned upon his
mother and killed her. The two males will share the Jaguar
Grotto, however not at the same time.
The
bottom part of the windows at the jaguar exhibit have been
made opaque so that the young jaguar doesn't inadvertently
give himself a concussion running at the small children
on the other side of the glass as he thinks "Yummmm
- dinner!!!" . ;-)
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Mama Gorilla
gave me a passing glance as she ferried her kid around. |
| Chinta
was first orangutan to the window this morning. She's three
years younger than Melati and is known for her hairdo - she
has bangs which are always flopping forward into her eyes.
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| She was
followed closely by Melati who is gazing into my open pack
here. Today one of the keepers told me about Melati's damaged
hand. When she was very young, a cage door slammed down on
her fingers, damaging them so much they needed to be amputated. |
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| Shortly,
Melati headed outside and climbed to the hammock. This is
a habit with her, as she knows she will receive a treat for
doing this. She climbed the tree and sat patiently waiting. |
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| Sure
enough, a keeper appeared and tossed her a bag of cookies.
He told me that it's a reward to encourage her to come outside.
Nevertheless, as soon as she had that bag safely within her
possession, she scampered down the tree and back inside. I
don't think she shared :) |
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| The orangutans
at this Zoo are a cross between the Borneo and the Sumatra
subspecies. Melati and Chinta show Sumatran characteristics,
but Towan, pictured here, shows the massive cheek pads and
large throat pouchesof the older Bornean male. |
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| Towan
here is the twin of Chinta, the female orangutan pictured
above who looks much more like the Sumatran subspecies. He
insisted on showing me his breakfast. ;-) |
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Since the tiger
cubs were no-shows, I spent time watching the Sun Bears. |
They were totally
intent upon their task - foraging for breakfast. |
It was so much
fun seeing them find their food and eat it. |
Keepers hide
the food in objects to keep the bears interested.
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