Find zoo photos which could be taken in the wild!

Jambo said:
Great photo.

One of the very few zoos to allow their tigers to climb a tree!
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Thank you. The tree is a great feature in the exhibit.

For the benefit of those not familiar with Taronga, most of the walls of the exhibit are mesh (thick, although not rigid metal like a cage), with the wall facing the visitor path featuring a glass window and viewing area. When the tigers come up close to the glass, as they often do, it makes for fantastic viewing.
 
Abbey said:
Thank you. The tree is a great feature in the exhibit.

For the benefit of those not familiar with Taronga, most of the walls of the exhibit are mesh (thick, although not rigid metal like a cage), with the wall facing the visitor path featuring a glass window and viewing area. When the tigers come up close to the glass, as they often do, it makes for fantastic viewing.
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It's great how the tiger complex has been designed with the tiger's natural behaviour in mind, which in turn gives the visitors a more interactive expereince.

Auckland Zoo similarly have designed their complex so that the tigers are elevated above the humans watching them. They're more confident and more active as a result.
 
Jurek7 said:
Some people overlooked that the animal cannot be native to the zoo area. :) Both the lynx and brown bear in Cabarceno, northern Spain or bighorn sheep in the Living Desert, California are native.

https://www.researchgate.net/public...eals_past_existence_of_Eurasian_lynx_in_Spain
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Indeed, that point I overlooked. @TeaLovingDave is correct that this is an Eurasian lynx, not the Iberian. The Brown bears are (as far as my knowledge goes) a mixture from different origins, not only the pyrenaicus type (not a different subspecies anymore).

So from both I could explain that it aren't the native species in the photo :p But in all honesty I didn't pay attention to that part of the description in the 1st post, so you are right @Jurek7 :oops:
 
Abbey said:
For the benefit of those not familiar with Taronga, most of the walls of the exhibit are mesh (thick, although not rigid metal like a cage), with the wall facing the visitor path featuring a glass window and viewing area. When the tigers come up close to the glass, as they often do, it makes for fantastic viewing.
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Zoofan15 said:
Auckland Zoo similarly have designed their complex so that the tigers are elevated above the humans watching them. They're more confident and more active as a result.
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It should be noted that both were designed by the same zoo design team
 
TeaLovingDave said:
If you're quoting Pleistocene records
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Could you read the link which you are commenting? The Eurasian Lynx were in northern Spain until few centuries ago, not prehistoric.

Probably many guessed that native animals are not allowed because any photo with abundant local plants will look like wild habitat. There must be e.g. tens of enclosures with red deer in native forest in Europe. So, please, no lynx from Cabarceno, but you could choose African elephants:

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Elephant in North Carolina shows something rare in zoos: reeds. Reeds are common in the wild but exceptional in zoo exhibits.

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Another rare sight in a zoo exhibit would be a mudflat on a water edge.

In recent decades, many zoos discover that many primates can be kept on live trees - especially specialized fruit-eaters.

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I like this bongo from Opole, because it is: a browsing animal, a city zoo and one without multi-miliion budget:

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Carnivores are somewhat easier to make such photos, because they don't destroy the vegetation much:

Maned Wolf

Maned Wolf


Elephants, in contrast, are perhaps the most difficult. This one makes use of an interesting angle:

Sumatran Elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus)

Sumatran Elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus)


(my apologies to the authors of photos in the previous post which I did'n't name - I cannot change it back).
 
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birdsandbats said:
I guess it is a chimp. Silhouetted in that pose it looked like a Siamang. But no, that looks nothing like a dead tree, it's obviously an artificial climbing frame.
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You are correct but it’s quite impressive getting such a photo when you see how unremarkable their enclosure is.
 
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Monarto Safari Park is pretty good for realistic enclosures.

If you look carefully, you can just make out some fencing in the distance in this photo, and the mallee scrub isn't quite accurate - but likely not dissimilar to the vegetation found in some parts of Africa:

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If you ignore the man-made sun shelter in the background - the giraffe enclosure if pretty convincing - although I doubt the giraffes (or other animals in the enclosure) would stay in one spot long enough to keep the grass trimmed that neatly?

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Again, if you ignore the man-made tree protection in the background - the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby enclosure if pretty big and mostly natural (local rocks, made into piles)

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Photos of animals are better if taken without signs of netting, bars or wires etc.. Often, the difference between a really good shot and one that could have been really good, is the background. Sometimes, all that is needed is to be patient, and just wait for the animal to move, or to try and find a better position before clicking. Often, it is not possible to take a shot of animals in captivity, without something appearing in the background. A not-so-good shot is better than no shot!
 
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