moonvoice | [Perth Zoo!] Sumatran Tigers, Orangutans, Galapagos Tortoise and more!

African painted dogs (and their puppies)
will come later.
For now, here's the first batch.
A few people have asked me what camera I use to take my photos.
I use a Canon 400DSLR, with the standard kit lenses.

Sumatran Tiger

Direct - even followed you around if you moved.

I'm actually really happy with these photos. There was rain on the glass, it was reflective due to the time of morning, and the glass was quite heavily fogged. All 'ideal' photography conditions, not.

Orangutan

Asian elephant

Galapagos Tortoise - Glen was completely enamoured of these guys.

Rothschild Giraffe

Quokka

Tasmanian Devil

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

darakat

QUACKKA! *eh hem* sorry.

From:

moonvoice

Heh.

From:

venturous

beautiful creatures, lovely photos, thank you! that tiger is so present, so vivid.

From:

moonvoice

Thank you! It was a few tigers, actually, but they were all very active!

From:

silverjackal

I've had the privilege of being less than half a meter away from a young female Siberian tiger. She was behind mesh, but right up against the bars, acting very much like a domestic cat enjoying a view as she watched people come and go. (I.e. she was sitting in sphinx pose, gently curling and uncurling her tail, with that typical feline "smile" -- whisker pads raised, vibrissae pointing forward, eyes squinted, ears relaxed.) I chatted with her keeper for quite some time -- evidently her brother was completely disinterested in people, but she loved to look at them up close. Even as genial as she obviously was, she had tremendous *presence*. They really are completely different from lions in even the subtlest mannerisms.

Those are gorgeous Rothschild giraffes, by the way. They're in *super* condition. I have have a bit of an eye, having seen the Rothschild, Reticulated, and Maasai giraffes in the wild. I really love the delicacy of the Quokka, and it's good to see a nice, healthy Tasmanian Devil after all of the graphic pictures of the cancer spread.

Thank you for sharing these photos! As always, they're fabulous. :)

From:

moonvoice

I've had the privilege of being less than half a meter away from a young female Siberian tiger. She was behind mesh, but right up against the bars, acting very much like a domestic cat enjoying a view as she watched people come and go.

*nods* A couple that morning came right up close to the glass. So there would have been less than a foot separating us. It couldn't get photos since I had my zoom lens on, and that won't handle photos of animals about a meter or less away from me, but it was freaking amazing. The big male frequently comes right down to the glass and pauses and takes everyone in. :)

The Perth Zoo also has lions, which is awesome. They really are different! And they have a cheetah, who has had a few cubs. She's a good producer, and very sweet and quite tame. I'm a big fan of the Sumatran tigers, but I've had the privilege of being very close to the cheetah (i.e. with no bars between us), due to my relationship to some of the zoo staff back when I was much more active in the natural sciences.

Sometimes I watch Maybe and see a lot of those sort of wild motions in her. Moet doesn't have them, or he has glimpses? But the way she naturally moves through the house is not very 'domestic cat.'

From:

silverjackal

The big male frequently comes right down to the glass and pauses and takes everyone in. :)

The zoo in Biggest-Center-Near-Me has a pair of Siberian Tigers who have reproduced successfully multiple times. When the previous litter were about 3 months old I was visiting at the same time as a man with his little daughter, who was about two. Steady on her feet, but not really vigorous yet, yes? The adult female never moved from where she was lying in the sun, but you should have seen those cubs react to the child by the glass. Prey just their size! :D (Dad thought it was terribly cute. I didn't disillusion him that the cubs wanted to "play" with his daughter as food, not as a playmate.)

Cheetahs are amazing. For all they are formidable hunters, they are so sweet when it comes to people. I can understand why the ancient Egyptian nobility kept them for hunting -- they're much more like a dog than a cat in temperament (in my admittedly limited experience). It's awesome that the Perth zoo is having good success breeding them -- they unfortunately need all the help they can get.

I understand what you mean about Maybe. She has the uncoupled, looser build and body movement one sees among big cats, not amongst domestics. It's like the difference in motion between a dog and a wolf. The wolf "gangles" in comparison.

From:

tree

i wondered if i could post your tortoise photo to my tortoise tumblr. credited how ever you would like, of course.

From:

moonvoice

Yes of course, post away! Feel free to just credit 'Ravenari', if that's not too much trouble? :)

From:

feralkiss

Aaah orang utans. *Hisses, wriggles, shows teeth.*

From:

moonvoice

I don't mind orang-utans, out of the primates (cannot stand chimpanzees), though I think out of the large primates, I most prefer gorillas.

From:

kehleyr

Do you guys still have any wild Tasmanian devils? I remember a show ages ago where one guy was looking for them and couldn't find a single one... of course this doesn't mean they don't exist in the wild but I thought I'd ask if you know how the situation is :-)!