They Otter Come Up For Air

As a spur of the moment decision I went to the zoo a couple days ago with my boyfriend, and we found that love was in the air. Or something was in the air, causing some of the animals to be somewhat feisty...

Otter sex

Yes, I took photos. Because how often do you get to photograph otters putting on a porn show?

While I was trying (and failing) to get a good photo, Murray was busy laughing over something else. There were kids present because, well, the zoo is a great place to take kids. I don't think some parents were prepared to explain frisky otters to their children though, and things were getting a bit awkward for one family. One boy was apparently mildly traumatized, and the parents didn't know what to do.

I guess I can understand the mildly traumatized bit...it looked like the otters were fighting. I actually thought one was dead at one point, until I saw movement again. One interesting thing is that, from what little I know of otter mating habits, the male usually bites the female on the nose. Here, though, he was biting her on the scruff of the neck.

(By the way, I've got to give Murray credit for the title of this post. If he didn't suggest this precisely, he suggested something pretty close. He also commented that the otters gave a new meaning to "coming up for air.")

Elephant dong

Yes, I also photographed an obviously horny male elephant. My reasoning was pretty much the same as the other photo: how often does someone get to photograph an erect elephant penis?

This must have been Sam, I remember him being born in the zoo's elephant breeding program a few years back. Or I thought it was only a few years ago...I was surprised to see him this mature, but he's too small to be their other bull elephant, so it must be Sam.

He'd been separated from the other elephants, and the poor guy looked lonely. I'm guessing that him breeding with his mom or aunts isn't part of the breeding program, though, which required removing him from the herd for a bit. Poor guy.

Condor feeding time

Don't worry, I'm past the sex crazed and blue balled animals now. 

Condor exhibit

The condor exhibit is new, though these birds been on site for a while as part of a breeding program. (Ok, I was mostly past the sex crazed animals.) I was really excited since I've been wanting to see them for a while. Birds with such huge wing spans are pretty amazing to me. And speaking of huge wing spans...

Wings extended

Maybe this one was just showing off? On the ground, wings extended, walking. Not sure what that was about, but it gave me a good shot of the open wings.

And yes, that is an animal carcass on the ground, I think it was half of a deer though I'm not entirely sure of that. As I said before, it was feeding time. There were actually warning signs up, but it was far enough from where we could observe that I don't think it was any more disgusting than seeing meat for sale in a grocery store. Then again, I guess not everyone takes that view.

Pretty

I'm not sure just what kind of reptile this was, but he (she?) was pretty, and shedding. I find the combination of orange, yellow, and green to be lovely.

Oopsie photo...

On the left you can see my hilarious fail where I tried to photograph the reptile as a panorama. On the right is where I decided to do the sensible thing of standing back to get a photo, and then cropping the sides.

Cheetah

I love cats, and the big cats are my favorite part of the zoo. Well, not just the big cats. The smaller ones, like the bobcats and the caracal, are just as awesome.

But the cheetahs...they have got to be the most beautiful cats I've ever seen. Just...wow.

Leopard

I also got a rare photo of the leopard sleeping out in plain view. How often does that happen? Not very often.

Mr. Bird in our way

As we got to the exit of the bird room, one decided to block our way by standing on one of the moving parts of the door. Murray tried to entice Mr. Bird down, which is how I got a photo of his hand.

Orangutan

I'm pretty sure that every time I see an orangutan for the rest of my life I'll exclaim "It's the Librarian!" If you know what I'm talking about, you've read Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to read some of them.

Fun fact: on a previous visit to the zoo I told Murray "Someday I'm going to get a librarian and name him the Orangutan! Wait, I meant..."