Malayan Tigers Connor and Danai - San Diego Zoo - March 2, 2013

I spent most of the day Saturday at the Malayan Tiger exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. There was quite a bit of time (one stretch was over an hour) where pretty much nothing happened - but when something did happen it was worth the wait. I got there at about 10:30am, apparently just missing the new female tiger that recently arrived at the Zoo. Connor, who will be 2 years old on April 2, had just come out into the enclosure. He was checking everything out, and was more attentive and active than I think I've ever seen him. You could tell he knew that there was a new girl in town.

I was a warm day, and he decided to head down to the pond for a drink.

I seem to catch him looking at me from behind cover a lot. 

Every now and then he would charge off to another part of the exhibit.

At one point he went up to the top of the hill and just stayed there. I waited for over an hour, with nothing happening, when he finally decided that a splash in the pond was in order.

The not-so-heavily-modified version of this next shot is in the gallery linked at the end of this blog post. In that version you can see he's standing in the water. Here, I've jacked up the contrast a lot to make the background go black.

I took a short break from the tigers to go see the newest baby Takin, apparently born that  day, and then headed back up the Tiger Trail on my way out.

I didn't expect to see much, figured Connor would be napping, but right as got back to the tigers I noticed the keepers take Connor inside for the night, an hour earlier than I expected, and that meant another tiger would be out soon. So much for getting home early.

Danai, the older female Malayan Tiger at the Zoo, is about 19 now. She can still move pretty quickly when she wants to.

The keepers put out one of those big femur bones for her, hidden in a cardboard box so she would have something to play with. It didn't take her long to find it.

I made one last stop on my way back up the hill. The keepers had put some treats inside of a wicker basket for Bullet the Fishing Cat.

I didn't get to see Tiga, the new 3 1/2 year-old female Malayan Tiger on Saturday, but I went back early on Sunday morning and did get to finally see her. I'll post those pictures, and some new ones of Connor, soon.

Click here to see more pictures from Saturday, March 2, 2013 at the San Diego Zoo.