National Geographic posted on their Instagram (@natgeo) that this week is big cat week! For me, being the cat-lover that I am, this is probably the best week in celebration of one of many of God’s wonderful creations. I take great joy in taking photos of these beautiful beasts (shown in a previous blog: Patient Jungle) and wanted to share more photos that I took of these mighty felines that I haven’t shown yet. I also edited them, too, so they’ll be a lot more eye-catching! Here we go!
These two tigers were gorgeous. The one of the right actually did that hilarious tongue-out pose after sniffing the ground a lot. I’m still upset that I missed the shot.
These two cats are leopards (their spots are very distinctive against jaguars and cheetahs and it’s one of my biggest pet peeves when prints are not properly labeled) and when I showed up, they had just quit play-fighting with each other. Adorable.
This is a jaguar. It’s spots are very different from a leopard’s. Even their facial structure is a little different. When you study cats pretty much the entirety of your childhood and then some, the difference becomes more evident (like finding the differences in identical twins!). Anyway, this guy paced a very specific trail in it’s habitat. I could see where the grass was worn down.
More pumas! Their habitat was rocky because obviously they’re mountain lions. They were enjoying their perches and watched zoo-goers closely. I loved taking photos of them.
The snow leopard has consistently been my favorite big cat to see, photograph, and study. It just looks so fluffy and beautiful. I’ve seen a snow leopard twice at the St. Louis Zoo in all the years I lived there (24 years!).
I love cats, big and small, and to have a week about the large kitties in the world makes me extremely happy. I hope this week you celebrate like it’s Shark Week, but with the large felines.
Thanks for reading and appreciating the beauty of God’s Creation!
-Syd
When the Canon Fires 