Seemed about time for another lion cub post. This little guy appears to have found something awfully tasty on the bottom of that foot, or maybe he was just scratching an itch with those sharp teeth. There were six cubs in this pride from the Masai Mara in Kenya. The above foot biter was one of three that were roughly a month old.
These pelicans are very cartoony looking with those big yellow eye pads. I saw quite a few of them on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. They also have the distinction of possessing longest bill of any living bird species.
This little guy is an eastern mud turtle. I spotted him one day in Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. Mud turtles are semi aquatic, spending the cold months on land (under ground) and the warmer months in the water.
These two rutting male impala appear to be taking a break from chasing each other around so that they can show a little affection. This was in Laikipia, Kenya, an area that used to be mostly farmland but has been reclaimed for wildlife preservation.
I saw quite a few of these black-backed jackals in the Central Kalahari Desert of Botswana. One of the nice things about that trip was that I was able to get out of the safari vehicle and onto the ground for more intimate, eye-level shots. I caught this guy, early in the morning, just as he was getting up from a long nap in the dry grass.
This one goes out to another little snow monkey friend of mine named Luke who was born last week. Also known as a Japanese macaque, this little guy was relaxing in the hot water springs near Nagano in Japan.
Keeping things in Australia for another day, this is a male regent bowerbird, photographed in Lamington National Park in Queensland. Male bowerbirds build elaborate structures on the ground, known as bowers, to attract females. They will line these bowers with sticks, shells, leaves, seeds and berries. They will also sometimes use wads of leaves as paintbrushes to spread a saliva paint to spruce up the place. This makes them one of the only known birds to use tools.
As promised after yesterday’s bug — cuddly and with fur. This is one of the koalas that I saw on Kangaroo Island in South Australia back in 2005.
It’s been a real long time since my last insect posting. I know most of you prefer feathers and fur to exoskeletons, but I figured it was high time we gave a shout out to our invertebrate friends. And what better bug is there than the giraffe weevil? This guy is native to Madagascar and aptly named as you can see. The males have the long, giraffe-like necks while the females have a much shorter neck. Hope you like it, but if not, tomorrow I promise something much more cuddly.
I usually like to post photos that either show an animal’s behavior or its habitat. With a creature as magnificent as a tiger, however, a simple head shot seems good enough. Of all the wild beasts I’ve seen around the world — gorillas in Uganda, jaguars in Brazil, polar bears in northern Canada — the tigers I saw in central India were the most spectacular and finest looking specimens of all. This lovely lady was resting in the dry grass of Bandhavgarh National Park, casually observing me and the rest of her mesmerized admirers.