Beautiful Animals

Neat tortoise, Jes.


Eastern diamondback rattlesnake (the largest of the rattlers):

Golden hamster:





Alpine bog skink:

Striped hyena:





Green mamba:

Thirteen-lined ground squirrel:





Flycatcher?

Galapagos sea lion body surfing:





Roseate spoonbill in the air:





and wading, looking for food:

Six spot tiger beetle:





Striped possum:

Vicuna:





Sea anemone:

re:black leopard
I'm sorry Roberta, but Im pretty sure that leopard is actually a jaguar. You can tell by head shape/size... its very distinct. While their coats (or spots) can be somewhat similar, a jag's face and head will give it away everytime. The leopard has a much slender head, while the jag's head is wide, and thick. The jaw is "thorough". The nose is oversized and pertrudes far from the main area of the face. Hope this helps.

Hi Jagluver and welcome.

I'm glad to receive any and all comments and corrections. However, there are a number of leopards and jaguars represented in the more than 700 posts on this thread. I have no idea which one you're referring to. Would it be possible for you to copy and post the photo here? Just go to the post and click on "quote." The entire post will be reproduced, and you'll be able to comment on it.

Thanks.

Birds of Paradise

Rosborne, Stunning, stunning, and stunning. Can't quite tell what I'm looking at in the last photo. Potentially stunning?

Thanks. Love dem boids.

Addra or dama (a kind of gazelle):




Red fly?

Ha, I just had to post this great pic (a lady Cardinal):

Love it, Jes. This boid has personality. Thanks.

BTW Roberta, I posted my reply b4 reading the whole thread, I love your entries. Some of these animals, I've never seen before!!!!! I'm definitely an animal lover, so I'll be bookmarking this page. here's the pic I referred to, and another example of a BEAUTIFUL Jag I got from webshots. I'll also post a pic of a black leopard to show the difference . (If I can figure it out!)
Here is your leopard, but I think is Jag:

Here is Twilight, a Jag I found on webshots:

Here is a "tawny" Jag:

and a "tawny" leopard:
[IMG]ttp://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/michelleeva1/leopard2.jpg[/IMG]

The spots give it away on the tawnies, because if the leopard is large enough they will look almost identical. The melanistics are almost too close together, either way I think they're beautiful animals. I hope my pics uploaded!!!!

my tawny leopard didn't show!! Let me try again...

BTW, at second glance I am really fighting my initial thoughts that your leopard is a jag.... I'll to go to the experts on that one.

jagluver, Thanks for returning to help clarify the situation. Also thanks for your kind words about this thread. It contains some photos of animals I've learned about as I've looked for photos. Photos on the Internet are often mislabeled. The photo in question was posted by Bella Dea, and she called it a black panther. From my perspective, the angle in the photo makes it difficult to see the overall shape of the head. I can't tell by looking whether it's a leopard or a jaguar, so I bow to your superior knowledge.

Thanks for posting the additional photos. These are magnificent animals. In fact, I think each animal is magnificent in its own way. But, IMO, cats are especially beautiful.

Expert I am not!! But technically Bella Dea was correct in stating it is a black panther. That is 100% correct. Black panthers are like an "AKA" for melanistic leopards and jaguars. Meaning that they're all-black. The tricky part with the melanistics is making that distinction between the leopard and jag! The angle is difficult, I agree. I too am a HUGE fan of the cats, with favor to the jags of course. Let me add to your collection with the lion, and the hardly-ever-mentioned snow leopards and mountain lions.

Mountain Lions, Pumas & Cougars
Here a couple of pics, though they are not as hi quality as yours! I'll have to dig deeper next time.

First the puma, looks a little startled:


And the cougar, just beautiful:


any thoughts, comments (get better pics!!)

Snow leopard
I decided to post cubs, so cute!