Cats at the National Zoo

Before I started volunteering at the zoo, Robin and I visited the zoo regularly for years, early on weekend mornings while the creatures were still awake and active (Tip: Go to the zoo before 10 am.  After that most animals are napping and there are hordes of people, many of them wielding strollers with screaming children).  Though I'm very fond of the variety of critters in the Amazonia exhibit where I volunteer, I always try to take a walk through at least part of the rest of the zoo during my break to see what's happening with other creatures.  The closest exhibits are the big cats (lions and tigers).  I figure that if you can see a lion and a tiger every weekend, life has not become dull.  And I've learned to try to bring our camera every week, as sometimes there's something cool.

I'm a sucker for cats, large or small.  It seems the zoo is as well, as the zoo has cheetahs, fishing cats, clouded leopards, sand cats, lions, two kinds of tigers, bobcats, and had caracals until they died a year or so ago. 

So here's a zoo cat tour, starting from the Connecticut Avenue entrance and working our way down to Rock Creek Park.

Cheetahs



One day a foolish duck alighted in the grass in the cheetah enclosure.  One of the cheetahs caught it.  We got there after it had been snacking a while.

Cheetah making sure nobody comes for his fresh duck.
In the wild, lions typically chase cheetahs from their fresh kills.
At the zoo it might be a concerned keeper.
Several years ago they had cheetah cubs at the zoo.  They were named after Olympic Sprinters Carmelita Jeter and Justin Gatlin.



They were pretty adorable.  One tried sneaking up on another.





Clouded leopard


Fishing Cat (rare photo of one awake)


Sand cat (in the small mammal house)

As with most cats, you have to be there early to find this one awake.
These little cats are SO BORING.
Sorry about that.  A couple pictures of your former neighbors, caracals and bobcats, and we're on to big cats.

Caracal - Sadly, the caracals have died, as they were pretty old.
 Bobcat

The zoo still has bobcats, but they aren't on exhibit because one escaped. Keepers found her a few days later by the bird house (Duh!).  The weekend after she was found, the curator for big cats was visiting the keeper office at Amazonia.  One of the keepers mentioned the curator's finding the bobcat that had escaped.  He replied, "Well, we found a bobcat."


The Big Cats

I have to begin with images that everyone with indoor/outdoor cats are familiar with: cats waiting to come in.

Tiger waiting to come in.
Three of the females STARING at the door.
Lions
Luke giving a nice yawn.

Luke giving a stare.

One of the females wondering why she can't be at a zoo that doesn't have snow.

Just like the kitties at home.
Visitors often complain about the lions and tigers napping during the day.
One of the lions naps while the other asks,
"Ok, folks, it's two in the afternoon. 
What is YOUR cat doing now?"
Preening.  Come on, it's a cat.  It's what they do.
A number of years ago, the female lions had a couple litters at almost the same time.  The cubs were as one would expect, cute as hell.







After they lured the mothers in, the keepers came out for the cubs.
Note huge gloves for handling cubs with serious claws and teeth and,
what I can only guess would be called lion cub nets?
Enough of the lions.  What about tigers?
Tigers
Siberian tigers don't like the heat.

This is why tigers do not make good pets.

Siberian tiger in the snow.
A few years ago one of the tigers had cubs.

Sadly our camera at the time did not have a very good zoom.

One of the tigers was playing with the ball then it got away.  Anybody who has seen their cat lose a cat toy know this look.  One day I watched a tiger chase a ball from the top of the exhibit all the way into the water and plunge in after it (it was not  during winter like above).  He held the ball under water, trying to drown it like he would drown prey.


Yawn.

LET ME IN!  You can see the worn portion of the door where big cats scratch at the door.
Tigers do enjoy watching children run past the enclosure.

Ok, these two aren't at the zoo.  But zoo cats don't interest them at all.

Our sweet Tazzy, who recently died.
Mr. Pud, who joined us about a year ago
I'll be posting photos from Amazonia as well as the rest of the zoo in coming days and add links below.




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