Saturday Morning With Connor The Tiger

I got to spend a few hours last Saturday morning with Connor, one of the Malayan Tigers at the San Diego Zoo.  The light there is particularly nice this time of year.

Click here to see a few more pictures of Connor at the San Diego Zoo on Saturday, September 24, 2016. 

       

Swimming Cats

Here's something you probably don't want to come face to face with next time you're out for a swim in the jungle.

That's the young male Jaguar at the San Diego Zoo.  His pond is deep enough that he can swim without touching the bottom once he gets a little further out from the shore.

Speaking of swimming cats, here's Cinta the Malayan Tiger going into his pond for an afternoon swim.

The water is quite a few feet deep at this point.  He's a pretty strong swimmer.

       

Malayan Tigers at The San Diego Zoo - Cinta and Berani Playing

I took these pictures of Cinta and Berani at the San Diego Zoo last November.  Cinta likes to try to get his brother Berani to play . . . sometimes it works, sometimes he gets snapped at for his efforts.

This last one is my favorite.  That's Cinta flying over the top of Berani.

Click here to see a few more images of Cinta and Berani, and their older brother Connor, from the San Diego Zoo on November 7, 2015.
       

Fig . . . and Figlet

The San Diego Zoo has a mating pair of North Sulawesi Babirusa, which are a sort of pig native to parts of Indonesia.  The male is Jethro, and the female is named Fig . . . so when they had a couple of babies recently the zookeepers came up with a generic term for them . . . Figlets.

Here's Fig with one of her Figlets.

     

Snow Leopard

I stopped by to see the Snow Leopards at the San Diego Zoo on Saturday.  

       

Seven Magic Mountains

I drove from San Diego to Las Vegas last week for a short conference for work.  About 12 miles north of the California - Nevada state line, and just east of I-15, is a public art installation called Seven Magic Mountains.  Created by Swiss-born artist Ugo Rondinone, the 7 towers of day glow-painted boulders stand 30 to 35 feet tall.  They are an impressive site, with pretty much nothing man-made in the background as far as you can see.  It was a bit warm out there on Wednesday, at a little over 100 degrees, so we didn't stay too long.

     

Malayan Tigers - Saturday at the San Diego Zoo

Some days things just come together the way they should . . . yesterday at the San Diego Zoo was one of those days.  When I got to the tigers at 9am, Connor was out in the big enclosure, and the sunlight was filtering through the trees at just the right angle.

Connor alternated between napping at the lower window and wandering all over the place.  There were a few times where I had to wait over an hour for something to happen, but it was worth it.  Meanwhile, his younger brothers Cinta and Berani spent most of the day crashed out.  I had to settle for something a bit more abstract with them.

Click here to see a few more pictures of the Malayan Tigers at the San Diego Zoo from Saturday, August 20, 2016.