View allAll Photos Tagged leopard
A Male Leopard relaxing under a tree in the Serengetti. Of course then we arrived as did about 15 other vehicles. You can spend time in the Serengetti driving for hours not spotting another vehicle but word spreads fast when one of the big five are spotted.
Port Lympne. Almost a good shot - Due to the Large sized bars and difficult dark enclosure as well as not being able to get that close it isn't an easy place to get pictures. Almost pleased with this one but can see it lacks quality.
The range of this species used to cover areas of China, Russia, and the Korean peninsula. However, their numbers have shrunk dramatically, and this cat is no longer found in China or Korea. In Russia as few as 14-20 adults were estimated to survive in 2007.
Amur leopards have been listed by the IUCN as critically endangered, meaning that the species is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild
(information from Edinburgh zoo's website www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/animals/individuals/AmurLeopard.h...
Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia)
Range: Mountain ranges of Central Asia from Northwestern China to Tibet and the Himalayas.
Status: Endangered
This Snow Leopard spends a lot of time on the high platform in its cage. It spends a lot of time watching the next cage in the display, hoping to catch sight of the Amur Leopard that lives there.
V1M very kindly organised for me to go to the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Kent for a Photographers on Safari day. This meant access inside the normal outer barriers that visitors are normally restricted behind, and enabled me to get right up against the inner enclosure, with camera lens as close as could be to the main enclosure. As well as our photographic instructor - John Wright - on hand to advise on technique, we also one of the cats' keepers, Becky, to tempt the animals out of hiding and into more photogenic positions with some tasty bits of meat.
As some of you will know I am a bit of a fan of animals and big cats in particular so I was rather in my element! Not only did I get some rather lovely photos of some gorgeous animals, but just being at such close quarters with them for the whole day was wonderful in itself.