Heather wanted to see the new baby Jaguars up close, so I told her that the best way was to get there right when the Zoo opens, and head straight for their enclosure. So we got there 15 minutes before opening, and as soon as they let us in we made a beeline to the Jaguars (which are about as far from the front gate as you can get) - and then waited almost 20 minutes before something finally happened. No big deal, that's the nature of dealing with cats. Besides, this was worth waiting for.
After a bit their mother showed up as well, but there was way too much glare on the glass to get much of a picture. The plan was for the keepers to come in and play with the babies for a while, but in order to do that they have to get the mother out of there. They needed something to distract her.
How about a giant fresh femur bone?
That should keep her distracted for a while.
With mom safely out of the way Kimberly and Jacob could now handle the cubs without worrying about being killed and eaten by a protective mother.
After hanging out with the Jaguars for quite a while we decided to go check out the new baby Giraffe. On the way we spotted some Meerkats.
The baby Giraffe is less than 2 weeks old.
We had a 12 Noon appointment with the Tigers (or, more accurately, an appointment with their keeper, who was going to toss them some beef heart chunks). When we first got there Christopher and Conner were way up in the back, lounging in the shadows, taking advantage of their natural camouflage, but definitely watching what was going on.
As soon as the keeper called to them they came trotting down the hill for their mid-day snacks. These 2 are starting to look pretty much full grown, but they will put on another 50 pounds or so. They've now been separated from their mother too. They're all grown up - it's hard to believe they're only a bit over 14 months old. I've watched them grow from when they were about 25 pounds, you can scroll back through this blog to see now they've progressed over the last year or so.
Click here to see a few more images from our morning walk around the San Diego Zoo on Sunday, June 17, 2012.