Another unpublished image from my archives 🙂 taken between 2001 and 2010.
A Clouded Leopard cub – Nashville Zoo at Grassmere
Almost back!
I will be leaving for South Africa tomorrow evening, so I thought I post a few of the animal images I took at the Zurich Zoo. I have also included a picture of a stag which I took in a small local deer park.
I enjoyed my vacation in Europe – even if it was very cold and wet – and now I am looking forward to going back to the African bush 🙂
Oriental Short-clawed Otter
Indian Lion
Red Phanda
Egyptian Vulture
Panther Chameleon
Red Deer Stag
Unusual
When working in a game reserve in South Africa one has many opportunities to take images of Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Giraffe, Zebra, …….
Going to a Zoo in Switzerland presented me with some – for me – unusual images.
The first image is of a baby Golden Lion Tamarin – my nieces thought that this little one was the cutest creature in the zoo. The second image is of an Elephant Shrew – one of the small five :-). The third is of a Carmine Bee-eater, one of my favorite birds.
I love the African Wild, but I also enjoy well run zoos! They have such an important role in education, research and conservation. They are an important “tool” to ensure that the 99% of mankind – who will never see the animals in their wild habitat – have an appreciation for the need to preserve nature.
The Golden Lion Tamarin is a small New World monkey. Native to the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil it is an endangered species with an estimated wild population of approximately 1,000 individuals and a captive population maintained at approximately 490 individuals among 150 zoos.
Elephant Shrews are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa whose name comes from a “fancied resemblance” between their long noses and the trunk of an elephant, and an assumed relationship with the shrews in the order Insectivora.
The Carmine Bee-eater occurs across sub-equatorial Africa. This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly colored,striking bird, predominantly carmine in coloration, but with the crown and under-tail coverts blue.
Countdown …
Pictures: Clouded Leopard at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere and Asiatic Lion at the Zurich Zoo
The countdown is running. I have ten more days in the USA and then I will spend five days in Germany and Switzerland before I depart (one way 🙂 to South Africa.
Now I am very busy with packing and getting everything ready, so unfortunately I have very little time left for goodbye lunches and dinners.
But I thought that there is no better place to say goodbye than at the zoos in Nashville and in Zurich/Switzerland. So for anyone of you would like to see me before I leave to South Africa …
… I will be at the Nashville Zoo on Sunday, May 27 in the morning and I will have lunch in the Zoofari Cafe at 11:00am. I would be great to see some of you at the zoo. To track me down at the zoo just call 347 819 3030 once you are at the zoo.
… I will be at the Zurich Zoo on Friday, June 1 in the morning and I will have lunch at the Masola Hall Restaurant at 11:00am. It would be great to see some of you at the zoo. To track me down at the zoo just call +41 79 793 9393 once you are at the zoo.
And if I do not see you again before I leave then I hope to see in South Africa sometime soon 🙂
Thanks and all the best – Christian
Picture(s) of the Week 20 – Playing Rough!
These little Asian Elephants were playing rough today at the Hannover Zoo in Germany.
I took these pictures today at one of the best zoos I have ever seen. It is actually more a perfectly made theme park with animals than a zoo. It is not surprising that it has more than 1.6 million visitors per year.
Yesterday we have been at the Burger’s Zoo in the The Netherlands, another one of the leading zoos in Europe and tomorrow we will be at the Leipzig Zoo in Germany.
Enjoy the picture!
PS: I will be back in the USA next Thursday evening.
Picture of the Week 19 – European Zoo Trip
This weeks picture is of a Pallas’s Cat (or Manul). The picture was taken at the Zürich Zoo in Switzerland.
European Zoo Trip
Tomorrow I will be leaving for a trip to three European zoos. First to the Burger’s Zoo in Arnhem in The Netherlands and then to the Zoos in Hannover and Leipzig in Germany.
I will be back in the USA on Thursday May 17. If I get a chance I will post some images while I am in Europe!
More about Pallas’s cat:
Pallas’s Cat (Otocolobus manul), also called the Manul, is a small wild cat having a broad but patchy distribution in Central Asia. The species was named after the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas, who first described the species in 1776 under the binomial Felis manul.
Pallas’s Cats are about the size of a domestic cats. They are solitary and territorial. They spend the day in caves, rock crevices, or marmot burrows, and emerge in the late afternoon to begin hunting. They are not fast runners, and hunt primarily by ambush or stalking. They feed largely on diurnally active prey species such as gerbils, pikas, voles and Chukar partridges.
Six feet and taller :-)
If you are six feet or taller you can take great water level shots of Alligators at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere 🙂
And don’t feel too bad if you are not that tall, you can still get some awesome shots from the upper viewing point at the exhibit.
This is one of my favorite images I took at the Nashville Zoo.
For Alligator shots from all viewpoint (including inside the exhibit :-)) go to http://www.sperka.biz/alligator
Three days old!
This video shows two litters of Clouded Leopard cubs, which were born in February and March this year at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.
Two of them were 3 days old and the other two were one month old at the time I recorded this video. Enjoy the cubs!
For more images of Clouded Leopards at Nashville Zoo at Gassmere go to http://www.sperka.biz/cloudedleopard
From the Nashville Zoo Press Release:
Nashville Zoo is proud to announce the births of two litters of clouded leopards. On Feb. 13, Lom Choy and her mate Luk welcomed two cubs, one male and one female. On March 11, Jing Jai and her mate Arun also welcomed a male and female pair. Both sets of parents are housed off-exhibit, and the cubs are being hand-reared together. In the coming weeks, a female clouded leopard cub born March 8 at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. will arrive to join Nashville’s four. The Zoo plans to place all five on public exhibit this summer. A specific date will be announced soon.
Introducing clouded leopards to potential mates is difficult due to the cat’s reclusive disposition. Male clouded leopards are often aggressive and have been known to attack and kill potential female partners. To reduce fatal attacks, cubs are hand-raised and introduced to mates at a young age. Since 2009, 11 cubs have been born at Nashville Zoo’s off-exhibit facility.
CAPTIVE and WILD
Captive and Wild – Lion Cubs
I was preparing this collage for one of my PowerPoint presentations and I thought I share it with all of you. It is not easy to identify which of the pictures was taken in the wild and which was taken in captivity. Have a guess yourself. I will publish the correct answer with next week’s Picture of the Week!
I will give my CAPTIVE and WILD Presentation three times in February. You are welcome if you like to come to any of the events.
> February 6, 2012 – Paducah Photography Club, Broadway Church of Christ, 2820 Jefferson St., Paducah, Kentucky, USA – 6:30pm
> February 7, 2012 – Northwest Tennessee Photography Club, UT Martin Campus Library, Martin, Tennessee, USA – 6:30pm
> February 13, 2012 – Murfreesboro Art League, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA – 7:00pm
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 