Beautiful Animals

there is a lot of wide open space here.

and the Kochs have a guilty conscience...

our old zoo was one of the saddest places I ever went. and I was only a small child then.

Well, hooray for the Kochs then, Rocky!
(Bet you don't hear anything like that too often! )

I don't know how typical this photograph is of other similar areas in the US.

(But loss of habitat is becoming a serious problem for native animals in Oz, particularly on the outskirts of our largest cities (which are growing really fast!) in the east of the continent.)


A five-year study shows that pronghorn in Wyoming are losing their wintering grounds to large-scale industrialisation.
Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS

I agree. I long remember a panther at the LA Zoo myself.

Dennis, military working dog, Provost Marshal's Office, waits for the next busload of passengers to arrive at the gate before he makes his rounds checking the vehicle and the luggage for contraband, May 14, 2012, during a routine search at the gate. The bus was transporting a new crew of Afghan and Iraqi role players to Camp Wilson....

I once became extremely angry with two young boys, who were deliberately taunting a large & rather frantic tiger in a too-small enclosure at Melbourne zoo. Years ago. I ticked them off & told them to stop it in front of their mother!
I don't make a habit of doing such things, let me add. I don't know what I was more upset by. The totally inadequate enclosure (at that time) for the fraught animal, or the boys, who were making the poor creature's life even more stressful & miserable!
Both, really.

I would have included mother in the ticking off.

It was all quite alarmingly spontaneous at the time, Roger. Even took myself by surprise!
She just stood there with her mouth wide open. Shocked.
As I say, I don't normally admonish young children in public places. I probably should have politely asked them to stop. And explained why.
But yeah, it would have been far better if the mother had done that. Especially since it appeared that they were just going to keep going on & on ....

The panther I saw was in a cage that I'd guess by my understanding of space now as 15 to 20 feet by, oh, 8 feet.

Looking back, maybe that was a temporary thing, but I don't trust that, the temporariness - probably in the early sixties. No one at all around.

Uh oh, off topic in a thread where it matters.

A moment in time captured forever! Malachite kingfisher diving into the water. Simply amazing!


The striolated puffbird is a little-known species in the Bucconidae family that is found in the southwestern Amazon Basin in Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. Photographed here in Rio Cristalino (Brazil)


The Willow Ptarmigan's scientific name, Lagopus lagopus is derived from Ancient Greek lagos "hare" and pous "foot" in reference to the bird's feathered feet which allow it to negotiate frozen ground. Here photographed in Kuusamo (Finland).


Southern masked weavers are very widespread in southern Africa and are found in a wide range of habitats


The illusive and enigmatic Pel's fishing owl of sub-Saharan Africa. A rare sighting along Africa's waterways...

mr vw raises african weavers.

he has a nest on the wall from a long time ago. he gave them colored embroidery thread and turned them loose. verra cool...

I was resting. I'm back.

I have very mixed feeling about zoos. Some are good; some are horrible. All keep wild animals captive. In some cases, zoos may be the last chance for endangered species. I try to select pictures that don't show animals in zoos. Easier said than done.

Thanksto firefly and Barry for the wonderful pics. Firefly, I love dem boids.

Caterpillar (Drury's jewel):

I agree that where the animals are doesn't, in any way, reduce their beauty, Roberta.

World's first vegetarian shark spurns meat for celery sticks
http://io9.com/5911739/worlds-first-vegetarian-shark-spurns-meat-for-celery-sticks

Fennec fox

Orca

Imbabura Tree Frog

firefly, Such a beautiful picture. Mama pig and piglet. Wonderful. If my heart had cockles, this would warm them up. Thanks.

tsar, I'm stunned and speechless (almost). A vegan shark! I guess the surgery altered something important. Whoda thunk? Not moi. Thanks, kid.

Ceili, Glorious pics. Those little fennec foxes are wonderful to see. Their outsized ears are a jolt. These guys are desert dwellers, and those big ears help to keep them cool. I'm stunned and impressed at the perfect angle of the orca shot. Spectacular! Tree frogs are amazing, and this one is a doozy. I don't think I've ever seen one before. Thanks for posting.

African wild dogs:



From AfricaGeographic Blog

I feel about horse racing similarly to how I feel about zoos. But, hey.

Mario Gutierrez on I'll Have Another, at the Preakness - (I didn't read the article about how he wouldn't win this time)

In many cases people wouldn't be aware of whether the photographs were taken in zoos or elsewhere. Especially when posters don't include the original published captions with the photographs.
But the animals are still beautiful, either way.