San Diego Zoo - Saturday, Oct 22, 2011

Lions . . . and tigers . . . and bears . . . well, okay not bears, but I did see a bearcat. Otherwise known as a binturong. And, not really a bear or a cat - but they are cool looking, even when they're asleep.

The lions were both sleeping as well. Here's Etosha, taking a late-afternoon nap. Every now and then she would open one eye just a bit. Check the link at the end of this post to see a picture of the large male lion M'bari, or at least the little bit of him that I could see.

Keeping with the napping theme, here's Danai, one of the adult female Malayan Tigers. I wound up staying almost all day, and found her on my way up Tiger River at about 5:30pm. It was actually a lot darker there than it looks in this shot.

One guy who was definitely not napping was Guapo the male Jaguar. He was pacing back and forth like an expectant father - which from what I've heard is exactly what he is. His girlfriend Nindiri is due to give birth any day now. There are a few more pictures of Guapo at the link below. He's a bit blurry looking through the dirty glass, but you get the idea.

Late in the afternoon is a great time to see the hippos. When I got to the Zoo early in the morning, mom Funani and son Adhama were just hanging out by the glass, not moving, and I didn't even try to get past the crowds to get close. By the end of the day they were out cruising around their pool.

I caught these two Grevy's Zebras when they stuck their heads up from the feed trough.

At one point I stumbled on to a duck feeding frenzy.

The light was really nice all day. There was a bit of fog in the air which diffused the sunlight nicely. All of the shots above were taken in the late afternoon. The next few were taken earlier in the day, starting with this Flamingo shortly after I arrived.

I spent the first 4 hours or so of the day just hanging out with the Malayan Tiger cubs and their mother. As usual, the cubs alternated between lounging around . . . 

 . . . chasing each other around . . .

. . . and sometimes really annoying their mother.

I thought last weekend was going to be the last time I would get to see Miri the Fishing Cat. It turns out she's now leaving for her new home this coming week, and she was out all day on Saturday. I guess "out" is a relative term with fishing cats - they don't seem to like just sitting around out in the open. They usually seem to be hiding someplace where they can watch but not be easily seen. When they are out in the open they're generally moving pretty quickly.

I must have spent over an hour at her little habitat on Saturday, but it was worth it. She really is a photogenic cat - when you can see her.

Here's one last shot, and appropriately one of the last shots I got before leaving for the day. The Crested Screamers that live at the big Flamingo pool near the Zoo entrance were chasing other birds away from their nests.

Click here to see more images from the San Diego Zoo on Saturday, October 22, 2011.