Posts Tagged: zoo

black-crested gibbon

This gibbon is part of a family living Zürich zoo. Love to watch them swing through their territory – soooo fast and with such ease – just elegant. They are monogam and defend their territory against threats, which renders them one of the big loser species that really suffer under the vanishing rain forest.

Zoo Frankfurt

The kids got their school reports and as a tradition we as a family do something special on that day. We went for a nice asian buffet (we ate far too much) and headed for the Frankfurt Zoo. When we arrived, it was raining and only about two hours left before it closed, so not the best signs. The images you see here were all shot with high ISOs and were partly very noisy. I had to push them through a few tools and so they are all heavily altered.

The all new enclosure for the penguins is great. All my life, I saw them in the Exotarium, living in that tiny space behind glass. Now they got their new home right next to the seals – outdoor and a much bigger basin to swim in with a viewing area for the visitors. Great! The old reigns has yet to be redefined, as many of the penguins uttered calls to mark their territory.

The humidity was so hight that I could not get my lens clean, when entering the ape house (Borgori-World) – next time.

chimp blues

Winter is almost here. Not the best time to visit the Frankfurt Zoo, but I was keen on the new “Borgori Wald” – the all new ape residence. Looks like it is a full success. Compared to the previous narrow cages this is a real winner. A littel drawback for all photographing people: dirty, scratched glaswalls instead of ironbars. You have to find your spot, take some time and better use a polarising filter to get rid of the reflections… I had none and this chimp still got the blues, although living in a great resort now.

peacock

It is mating season in the land of peacocks and their high pitched cry is omnipresent when you wander through the Zoo in Frankfurt. This Indian Peafolw thought it might be a good idea to climb a tree and shout from atop, although they typically stay on the ground. Let’s face it: He is looking that good up there, that it’s fine that he left his normal surrounding. The ladys will be amused.

close bonds

Zoo Frankfurt is always worth a visit, although the idea of locking up animals in small cages is not what I would call good. None the less, it is still a place I like to go and at least support the zoo with my entrance fee. This orang utan mother and its baby were both in one cage, with no fences between them. I just removed some of the bars to make it more dramatic. Did you know that urang utan is the Indonesian word for forrest people? (orang = person, utan = forest) And indeed they are. Let’s hope the all new “Bonoboland” arrea gets ready soon so that those two get back on trees, where they usualy spent most of their time.

inguana colorica ;)

There are about 700 different subspecies of inguanas, making it hard to distinguish them from each other. Well, this one here tripped over the digital color bucket photoshopwise, so in real life it is more pale, but I couldn’t resist coloring it.