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Let's make this pretty clear: the entry is cut for a few photos. Yes, I rewrite my cut text so that the entry makes sense when you click on it. Sometimes, the text makes a new and slightly different sentence, rewarding the keenly perceptive clicker of cuts with further insight into the content of the entry.
These are all from the zoo, a trip to which was included in xmas swag for my brother and I. Or, more correctly, a trip into a cheetah enclosure was the bit of xmas swag. Yarr, and whee!
But that's not where I'm starting. And, for those who care, all of these photos were taken on my Canon EOS3000n SLR with a 75-300mm lens, on 400ISO colour film. Yay SLR, yay lens, yay photos.
So! Photos. Let's start from the start - European brown bears. Only two of the three were out that morning. One was quite content to pose, like so:
The other was far more interested in patrolling their little pond, and happily wandered up and down peering into the water.
And, for that matter, grinning some. Ignoring the flow of time for just a moment, I also have this shot
which was taken to finish off a film; otherwise, it would've just sat in my camera in its bag in a drawer for Some Time, until I found something to take pictures of.
Right next to the bears, the snow leopards amble about in a little tree-filled valley. Ocasionally, they surface to make an appearance; this one
obviously had interesting things to do, and scampered off seconds later. Or, since they're Himalayan cats, had some cooler shade to find.
Not to be outdone, I decided I might just scamper off myself - over toward the tigers, in fact. One was out in plain sight; the other, in an adjacent enclosure, was hiding behind a rock - so, no pictures of him.
I can only conclude that what's happening here is acute embarrassment, or a feline hangover.
And then, one more before we leave her to lie about and sleep.
Whee! And now, off to the cheetah enclosure because, well, squeeee! Unfortunately, nothing from inside; I didn't find out until much too late that cameras are, in fact, allowed in. Woe!
One had managed to run into a tree overnight, as you can see here.
Running into things - or just tripping over the ground - is an occupational hazard for cheetahs.
Here's a couple more pictures of them ambling about...
They're incredibly soft. No, really. Softer than housecats. Also, they're pretty, and they shed. No, seriously - I was finding cheetah hairs on my clothes for the rest of the day.
Did I mention squeeeee?
And next, giraffes. They seemed to have been in for maintenance to start with.
A little bit later, they'd trotted off into a different bit of the enclosure.
They share space with zebras (unfortunaely, hiding), and a pair of eland. Eland are among the biggest varieties of antelope, and they have... wait. See for yourself. Only one eland was actually out, though.
From there, it was time to venture past some colobus monkeys.
That one went to run and hide, like so:
And then, we went back toward the lions - which meant a trip past a firefox, who was somewhat snoozy - seeing as how it was a fairly warm day.
So warm, in fact, that the lions decided to display their feline intelligence by resting in the shade.
And so were the rocks pwn3d by way of 300mm lens. Yay!
Nearby, they had tigons - the only two in the country. As the name implies, they're part-lion and part-tiger, and interestingly able to communicate perfectly well with both. They'd decided it was naptime an hour and a half earlier, and weren't anywhere close to rethinking that decision.
Sleeeeeepy...
*YAWN!*
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Next came some otters...
...and a wombat, who decided the day was far too warm and sunny.
Next, we have a brief interlude with a random shot of two black swans.
And then penguins!
And penguins creatively solving the heat issue...
These are little penguins, and are native to Australia.
A sign near the penguins lays claim to this variety of penguin as the inspiration for Tux; I have no idea whether this is true or not, but it looks plausible.
And, because this is EllJay...
These are all from the zoo, a trip to which was included in xmas swag for my brother and I. Or, more correctly, a trip into a cheetah enclosure was the bit of xmas swag. Yarr, and whee!
But that's not where I'm starting. And, for those who care, all of these photos were taken on my Canon EOS3000n SLR with a 75-300mm lens, on 400ISO colour film. Yay SLR, yay lens, yay photos.
So! Photos. Let's start from the start - European brown bears. Only two of the three were out that morning. One was quite content to pose, like so:
The other was far more interested in patrolling their little pond, and happily wandered up and down peering into the water.
And, for that matter, grinning some. Ignoring the flow of time for just a moment, I also have this shot
which was taken to finish off a film; otherwise, it would've just sat in my camera in its bag in a drawer for Some Time, until I found something to take pictures of.
Right next to the bears, the snow leopards amble about in a little tree-filled valley. Ocasionally, they surface to make an appearance; this one
obviously had interesting things to do, and scampered off seconds later. Or, since they're Himalayan cats, had some cooler shade to find.
Not to be outdone, I decided I might just scamper off myself - over toward the tigers, in fact. One was out in plain sight; the other, in an adjacent enclosure, was hiding behind a rock - so, no pictures of him.
I can only conclude that what's happening here is acute embarrassment, or a feline hangover.
And then, one more before we leave her to lie about and sleep.
Whee! And now, off to the cheetah enclosure because, well, squeeee! Unfortunately, nothing from inside; I didn't find out until much too late that cameras are, in fact, allowed in. Woe!
One had managed to run into a tree overnight, as you can see here.
Running into things - or just tripping over the ground - is an occupational hazard for cheetahs.
Here's a couple more pictures of them ambling about...
They're incredibly soft. No, really. Softer than housecats. Also, they're pretty, and they shed. No, seriously - I was finding cheetah hairs on my clothes for the rest of the day.
Did I mention squeeeee?
And next, giraffes. They seemed to have been in for maintenance to start with.
A little bit later, they'd trotted off into a different bit of the enclosure.
They share space with zebras (unfortunaely, hiding), and a pair of eland. Eland are among the biggest varieties of antelope, and they have... wait. See for yourself. Only one eland was actually out, though.
From there, it was time to venture past some colobus monkeys.
That one went to run and hide, like so:
And then, we went back toward the lions - which meant a trip past a firefox, who was somewhat snoozy - seeing as how it was a fairly warm day.
So warm, in fact, that the lions decided to display their feline intelligence by resting in the shade.
And so were the rocks pwn3d by way of 300mm lens. Yay!
Nearby, they had tigons - the only two in the country. As the name implies, they're part-lion and part-tiger, and interestingly able to communicate perfectly well with both. They'd decided it was naptime an hour and a half earlier, and weren't anywhere close to rethinking that decision.
Sleeeeeepy...
*YAWN!*
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Next came some otters...
...and a wombat, who decided the day was far too warm and sunny.
Next, we have a brief interlude with a random shot of two black swans.
And then penguins!
And penguins creatively solving the heat issue...
These are little penguins, and are native to Australia.
A sign near the penguins lays claim to this variety of penguin as the inspiration for Tux; I have no idea whether this is true or not, but it looks plausible.
And, because this is EllJay...
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:28 pm (UTC)And my knees hurt for about a day afterward, because their claws aren't retractable; if one rolls over, you have to be able to step back riiight away.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:41 pm (UTC)Saw the head of a massive komodo dragon, though. Another favorite.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:51 pm (UTC)In summer, the sun bear gets to live in there. Australian summers aren't very friendly.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:26 pm (UTC)Also, firefox! LLAMA! Too cool.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:40 pm (UTC)So, you're in Canberra, hey?
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:47 pm (UTC)...
HA!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:35 pm (UTC)And did you get to pet the cheetahs? So jealous. And firefox, which is adorable! And the Tigons which have spots! And penguins!! Eeeee!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:41 pm (UTC)So tell me, do we ever get to see any photos of the rare and elusive
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 07:20 pm (UTC)The snakes are in the aquarium, where it's pretty dark. When I go there next, I'll take my shorter lens and see what can be done.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 03:28 am (UTC)And otters and penguins!!!!
Cute!!!
*is done squealing now*
*is envious, hasn't been to the zoo since high school*
no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 03:32 am (UTC)And zoos are for everyone. Except those idiots who clomp about and make noise and expect that the animals are there for their personal amusement. But apart from them, everyone!
no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 06:26 am (UTC)Penguins! And Cheetahs! (::dies::) You got to pet them for real? You have to tell me all about it next time I see you on AIM. I'm glad you had fun.
Is that a new camera? Did you get that for Christmas?
AHHH THERE'S SO MUCH TO CATCH UP ON!
no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 06:32 am (UTC)And yay penguins! And yessqueeeeyay!
I got it for xmas... in 2001. :)
THERE IS! LIKE SQUISHES! *SQUISH!*
no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 06:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:59 pm (UTC)PENGUIN! LLAMA! PENGUIN! LLAMGUIN! PENMA! *blink* I confuse the two far too much. Nice pictures.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 02:23 pm (UTC)Um... How do you confuse llamas and penguins?
no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 02:52 pm (UTC)