Joliezac's Zoo Photos: San Diego! *May 13th*

I've been taking photographs of my animal figures for 2 years now, but regretfully, I have hardly any with real animals!

I somehow have not been to a zoo in almost 2 years which is such a shame. Visiting zoos and aquariums are some of my favorite activities.

This week on a day off I decided to go to the Cape May Zoo. Its a small zoo but we would visit it often because they breed snow leopards and we have seen cubs many times So that is certainly a highlight. They also have an Amur leopard

So here are some of my first zoo photos! They aren't all that great but I'm satisfied with a few.

A beautiful pair of scimitar-horned oryx. A shame they were so far away!
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Great horned owl
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Eurasian eagle owl
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A beautiful Amur leopard. It was very difficult to get a clear shot through the fence but luckily I got a few.
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Then there were some adorable capybara babies!   The one little guy even sat down and posed for me  
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Day gecko:
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Some tortoises (can't remember the species)
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Gila monster
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Rhinoceros iguana, one of my favorites!
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I believe these were Solomon Island frogs but I can't remember exactly  
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Bald eagle
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Then my favorite shot, the snow leopard exhibit has a small section of glass so I don't have to shoot through a horrible chain-link fence. When I took my first photo the female looked directly at me so I was able to get this photo. Such beautiful cats, I can't describe my joy when I see them. Its a shame they have to be in a small zoo cage.

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Gorgeous photos! A nearby zoo here also contributes to the captive snow leopard population and they are so fun to visit.

These pictures are ever so beautyful

The snow leopard is fantastic. A "shot" in a thousand !!!!

And that Armur leopard !! I hope they find him/her a spouse, so there can perhaps be a few more of them on our suffering earth.

In spite of that...should I point out one photo that I love a tiny bit most, it must be the day gacko !!! What darling a little charmer

I think the most fantastic is the fact that you are recovering this habit of visiting Zoos and enjoying all these animals.
Very good photos, capy and snowy are two very fortunate ones.

Marvellous photos , Thanks for sharing.

The pair of scimitar oryx are splendid.

Very nice pics Jolie, the smiling day gecko made my day 

Thank you so much everyone!

Nice pictures

Wow, that snow leopard is so beautiful! The amur leopard is too, of course, but the pose makes the shot and his serene face looking directly at you is so lovely. The reptile shots are also nice, I've never had a camera that can really handle indoor lighting so I appreciate how sharp and bright and focused they are.

I bet it was great getting back to visiting animals again, after such a long while, and to try photography there for the first time with such nice results you can be happy with

Lovely photos!!!!

I visited California to see family in July and as always we went to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park! I'm very fortunate that I've been able to go to these zoos almost every year since I was little. They will always be my favorite zoos. This year I was very excited because they had twin Amur leopard cubs born there in the Spring. So we got there early and went straight to the spot where they were, and I brought my big lens

I'm still very new to photographing real moving animals, but I'm very happy with the shots I got! So here is what I have:

First we went to the African aviary. I'm not sure what birds these are though..

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Then some photos of the southern carmine bee-eaters & white-fronted bee eaters! These guys were really neat to watch. The zookeepers were throwing mealworms to them and they were catching them midair!

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Southern ground hornbill

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I was excited to see some jacanas and even more thrilled to see the wattled jacana had 2 chicks! The one is hiding under the wing while the other was exploring

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Takin mother & baby  

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Gerenuk. These guys always crack me up  

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Then the highlight of the day! Probably spent over an hour watching these cats. The mother and her 2 cubs were out and playing first thing in the morning. We went back at the end of the day and they were playing again! It was really hard to get photos between the foliage, chain fence, and constant movement.. But I got a few!

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The cubs were just so adorable I could honestly watch them all day  

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Then we also went to the Wild Animal Park! It was nearly 95 degrees but we still saw plenty of animals out and about!

First we saw a beautiful male Sumatran tiger. He had just fathered cubs but they weren't out on display for the public yet. He was sitting right by the glass so I was able to get some good shots without worrying about the chain fence  

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Burrowing owl

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Some very hot toco toucan chicks

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Desert bighorn sheep

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Roan antelope

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Female nilgai

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Then we paid extra to go on the Asian safari tour because I really wanted to see the Przewalski's horses. They had a foal born a few weeks prior but we didn't get to see it. But we did get to see the foal born in December. He was just very far away. Then 2 Przewalski's up close. The one on the right is actually a clone. I believe they said that they only had 13 lineages for breeding, but now they have 14 because one of the males had a broken leg and couldn't breed but they cloned him. So they hope to breed him in a few years to expand the gene pool.

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Then a herd of blackbuck. At first I didn't recognize them. They explained that once they didn't need to breed them anymore, they altered all the males. The already mature ones' coats turned from black to tan like the females. The ones that hadn't matured yet also turned tan, but because of the lack of testosterone, their horns didn't curl but grew almost outwards. So that is why some have the distinct curly horns and some do not. I thought that was very interesting.

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Then lastly we saw a female nyala and her baby that was born just that morning!

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I look forward to taking more photos when I visit more zoos. I saw a lot more at both the zoo and animal park but not all my photos turned out quite so well.

I wish to see the San Diego Zoo one time in my life

The bird on the first pictures is a Yellow-crowned bishop (Euplectes afer), isn't it?
Your pictures are really beautiful and it is so nice that after visiting the zoo so many times you still find so much joy doing it.

Great photos!!! :cheers:Like Andreas I would love to visit them both one day!

Roger wrote:

The bird on the first pictures is a Yellow-crowned bishop (Euplectes afer), isn't it?
Your pictures are really beautiful and it is so nice that after visiting the zoo so many times you still find so much joy doing it.

Thank you! I didn't take a picture of the sign so I forgot what bird it was. Thank you so much! I don't think I'd ever be tired of visiting zoos.

Wonderful portraits!

Joliezac wrote:

I visited California to see family in July and as always we went to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park! I'm very fortunate that I've been able to go to these zoos almost every year since I was little. They will always be my favorite zoos. This year I was very excited because they had twin Amur leopard cubs born there in the Spring. So we got there early and went straight to the spot where they were, and I brought my big lens

I'm still very new to photographing real moving animals, but I'm very happy with the shots I got! So here is what I have:

First we went to the African aviary. I'm not sure what birds these are though..

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Takin mother & baby  



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Gerenuk. These guys always crack me up  


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Female nilgai

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Then we paid extra to go on the Asian safari tour because I really wanted to see the Przewalski's horses. They had a foal born a few weeks prior but we didn't get to see it. But we did get to see the foal born in December. He was just very far away. Then 2 Przewalski's up close. The one on the right is actually a clone. I believe they said that they only had 13 lineages for breeding, but now they have 14 because one of the males had a broken leg and couldn't breed but they cloned him. So they hope to breed him in a few years to expand the gene pool.



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Then a herd of blackbuck. At first I didn't recognize them. They explained that once they didn't need to breed them anymore, they altered all the males. The already mature ones' coats turned from black to tan like the females. The ones that hadn't matured yet also turned tan, but because of the lack of testosterone, their horns didn't curl but grew almost outwards. So that is why some have the distinct curly horns and some do not. I thought that was very interesting.

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Then lastly we saw a female nyala and her baby that was born just that morning!

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great photos you took, well done!
I like the first bird pic, just seen thru the dark bushes, showing a beautiful contrast of light and dark with that purple/crimson feather colour!

what a beautiful baby Takin beside the mum:)

and the Gerenuk standing up - that's great that there seems to be something for them to eat that high up in a zoo

That is a great photo of the Nilgai. Ever since I did research for the Hagerman Horse I painted I've been interested in markings and fly attraction

The Przewalki's horse on the left seems to have a short tail? or is it swatting flies ?

Thanks for the info on the Blackbuck and their horns. I didn't know that and it's very interesting to read about.

What a precious Nyala baby! You got there at just the right time!
These antelopes are very beautiful animals and always browse close to each other in groups of 5 of 10 (depending on how many females in their family herd).

San Diego is an incredible zoo, I've only gotten the chance to go once but absolutely loved it. Really wonderful pictures! Those tiger shots are incredible. I bet his keepers would love to see them.

The cloned przewalski horse (which I think is actually the second one) is such a cool story and such an encouraging step for the conversation of the species. To me, that's cloning done correctly--not bringing back animals like the mammoth that have no where to live in the modern world.

Thank you for sharing! I really hope to go back someday!

Very nice pics from a zoo I will probably never visit alas

The Tiger and Leopard cub pics are really stunning

Thank you so much everyone!

More photos from the San Diego Zoo from my trip in March. It was very crowded since we went on a weekend so not many animals were out but I was so happy to see the birds back on display! My favorite, the harpy eagle was out flying around and seemingly posing

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Then the San Diego Safari Park. The cassowary was sitting right up against the fence so I was able to get some closeups.

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Bald eagle

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Matschie's tree kangaroo. I was very excited to see this guy because he always seems to be hiding whenever we visit.

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African spoonbill & Inca tern

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Southern ground hornbill

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Egyptian vulture

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Not sure what species these are

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Beautiful pictures!
Jolie, from your escapades to the zoo

I love especially the Abdin's stork and the bald ibis??
That snow leopard looking at you is unbelievable! The Amur leopard photos are also priceless.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. :)

Such beautiful photos! 🤩 I love those creatures, just look at that takin! Przewalski horses! All the birds and antelopes! Tree kangaroo Amazing! I can see why San Diego Zoo is considered one of the best in the world.

Our local zoo, (Oudehand Dierenpark in Rhenen) recently received koala from San Diego Zoo, they will be part of a koala conservation program.

My childhood dream