Tag Archives: animal

The Red Pandas Caught Me Out

Longleat has a boat cruise that takes you up a lake to look at various parts of their collection. The line to wait for the boat seemed to take a long time and not move very much but we weren’t in a hurry. As we got closer to the boarding area, we were next to signs discussing Red Pandas. The signs were interesting and talked about the pandas and their life. As we stood there for ages, I casually said to Nancy it would have been better if they actually had some pandas near the sign. Some time passed before a red panda came wandering through the shrubs next to us. Of course, they didn’t put up signs about an animal that wasn’t there.

I felt like quite a dope, but we had been there for ages with no sign of any pandas. When this one walked through, everyone around us was taken aback too so it was quite the star. Besides, we had been standing around for ages, so a cute red animal was a great change. There were actually two of them in there. They alternated between patrolling their space and climbing the trees. I was now more focused on them and hoped we wouldn’t board the boat too soon. They did disappear again after a while, so I was happy to get onboard. When we disembarked, you could see one of the pandas lounging on a branch near the dock. Cute looking things although those claws and teeth look pretty sharp!

How Quickly Do Young Cattle Grow?

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When we first moved into our rental place in Winchester, I explored the local pathways and quickly found the Barton Meadows Nature Reserve. It surrounds a pair of fields that are still part of an active farm. When I first walked in the area, there were a lot of young cattle in the fields. Over the coming weeks and months, I saw these cattle grow from youngsters to sizeable creatures. It was surprising just how quickly they grew. Their fluffy mops of hair on their heads made them look cuter than the average cow/bull. After a few months, they were gone…

The Lambs Might Be Bigger but They Are Still Cute

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Our visit to the rare breeds farm included some not very rare breeds too. They had a bunch of lambs in one of the barns. These lambs were clearly a little older than some of the others I have photographed through the spring, and they were growing quickly. This hadn’t impacted on how cute they were, though. Adult sheep are not the cutest of the animals out there but, like many creatures, the youngest ones are just cute. From a photography point of view, I appreciated that these have not yet been marked up with ownership markings. They look more ideal as a result.

Exposition Park Cats

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As I walked into Exposition Park, I saw a cat wandering along the sidewalk near the road. I stopped to watch it for a while, and it became a bit nervous when it realized I was watching it. It soon retreated and I thought little more of it. I assumed it was a wild cat rather than someone’s pet. It was only a few minutes later that I came across another pair of cats. They were playing together and initially seemed interested in my presence and then retreated too. I assume that the park must have a few cats in residence.

Baby Gorilla At Woodland Park

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One of the things that we were hoping to see during our visit to the zoo was the baby gorilla that was recently born there. Of course, when wanting to see something at the zoo, you are always up against the problem that the animals are not aware of or interested in what you want. They are doing their thing. The parents of the baby were sitting up in a corner of the enclosure, a long way from everything else. You could just get a view of them from a certain angle.

Then, our luck improved. The mother walked down the to bottom of the enclosure near the spectators. The baby was clinging to her arm as she came down. When she stopped, it would jump off and run around a bit before grabbing back onboard when she started to move off. Back up to the top of the enclosure and they were gone. A brief moment and we just happened to be able to see it. What a cute little creature it is.

Chasing the Ball

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Beaches are great places for dogs. Plenty of space to run and then there is the water to play in if they like. As we were walking along Long Beach in Tofino. One guy was throwing a ball for his dog to chase and fetch. The dog was having a fantastic time roaring around the beach after the ball. The guy seemed to be happy too but I think I was almost as happy as the dog watching it having such a good time. A couple of times it came towards me and I wanted the guy to throw the ball my way more often to get some shots but I think he was throwing it away from me to avoid inconveniencing me. I should have said not to worry.

Warthogs – Not the Flying Version

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Given that this blog has a lot of aviation content, some people will get excited when they see the word Warthog. Sorry guys, this is not an A-10 post. I may have to put one together now though since I want to see some A-10s on here too. This is a warthog of the animal variety instead. There were a couple of warthogs we saw at Woodland Park Zoo. Initially they were rummaging around under cover and not in a good spot for a photo. However, a little patience paid off and soon they moved out into the open. Then we got a good look at them and the chance to really see their faces. They may not be everyone’s favorite but I find them a great looking creature and certainly something you want to treat with some respect!

Bears!!

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Bears are cool and brown bears are even cooler. We saw a couple of them at Woodland Park Zoo and, while it was the middle of the day, they were actually pretty active. It didn’t hurt that some food was coming their way so I guess they were incentivized to be a little busy. It was a warm and sunny day so the fact they had some water to work with probably suited them quite nicely. Lots of zoo animals are somehow aware of where they can go to be as difficult to see as possible. These guys were either unaware or just showoffs.

They wandered around the enclosure quite a bit and provided plenty of opportunities to see them. Aside from the outdoor area, there was an indoor viewing space that was against the side of their pool. From within there you could really get a good view of them chomping down on the food that had been thrown their way. They seemed quite content to enjoy the nosh and pay no attention to the hordes staring at them through the glass. Being so close to such a large creature was really very impressive.

The Alpha Wolf Even Looks Like He’s the Boss

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The small pack of wolves at Cougar Mountain Zoo were quite something to watch. They had a variety of territories in their enclosure and they moved between them frequently. They did patrol the area near the visitors to keep tabs on what was going on. There was a very distinct hierarchy in the pack. The alpha male was very obvious. A number of them seemed to be at a secondary level and one seemed to be the most passive in the group, often staying away from rest. He didn’t seem to have any problems but did not get in the way of the others.

The alpha was a great looking wolf. When compared to the others, there was even something about the face that made you know he was in charge. He had a look that suggested he was constantly assessing things. It is easy to project human emotions on to animals but something about this guy made you think that he didn’t have time for the fun stuff and he was always on guard. He looked great.

Cougar Mountain Zoo

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Cougar Mountain Zoo is a small zoo located on the east side of Lake Washington in an area named, wait for it, Cougar Mountain. While it is not a big facility, it does have an interesting variety of creatures in nice habitats and we ended up spending a lot more time there than we thought would be the case. I shall have a variety of creatures to share in some upcoming posts but, given the name of the location and the zoo, it would be churlish to start with any other than the cougars.

They have an enclosure that is one of the first things you come across when you enter. However, they are not always terribly keen on showing off. When we first got there, one of them was lying deep within a small cave and didn’t seem interested in coming out. However, over time they did stretch their legs and come to check things out. Two things really got their attention. One was they knew some feeding was coming soon so they were alert for where the food would ultimately be coming from. The other was some small children that ran around. The cats were eying the kids intently. I assume, if the fencing hadn’t been there, some tasty snacks would have been had by these guys.

Big cats do looks very cool I think. When they are taking it easy, they still look like they are in control and when they get active, you do feel that they could take care of anything that comes their way. The cougar has an intense looking face too. More to come from this place in some upcoming posts.