Tigers and Otters (and a Slender-Snouted Crocodile) at the San Diego Zoo

I stopped in to the San Diego Zoo for a few hours this morning, and spent most of my time watching the tigers. Mek and her two cubs, Christopher and Conner, were out when I first got there. As is often the case, I spent more time standing around waiting for them to get up and wander into view than I did actually seeing them.


A little after 11:00AM a keeper showed up and tossed some chunks of fresh meat to them. That definitely got their attention. Here's Mom Mek, and sons Christopher (far left) and Conner (center).

That's not a yawn, he's growling (sort of) at the keeper for more food. It was a strange high-pitched sound though, not at all what you might expect.

One of the chunks of meat wound up in the pond at the bottom of the enclosure.

I don't think he was quite ready to get wet, this was far as he got. Malayan tigers seem to like water, so I'm sure he'll get used to it soon. I don't think he ever found the meat.

 These things sure looked sharp.

A couple of the river otters were chasing around and wrestling with each other. Maybe it's just the light, but they've got really strange looking eyes.

The sun was getting pretty bright, so I decided to call it a day. On my way out I stopped by the African Slender-Snouted Crocodile. He's behind glass - that's probably a good thing, but it does make it tough to get a decent picture, with all the weird colored reflections.

Click here to see more images from the San Diego Zoo on Saturday, September 17, 2011.