Monday, July 12, 2010

Big Cats

193/365

I've been saying for weeks now, as soon as it cools off a bit, we're going to the zoo. It seems it only cools off right after it rains. So when I woke up this morning, and found it had rained, and that it was still cool, I made the suggestion that my friend Elizabeth and I take the boys to the Zoo.

It was a Brilliant Idea.

It was our first time there since they opened the Cheetah exhibit back at the end of May. All I have to say is Wow.



I have a new favorite animal at the Indy Zoo, and it is the Cheetah!

They are pretty, and elegant, no, not just pretty, Beautiful. I could've stayed and watched them All Day.



They had two viewing areas, and in one (the top first picture) two cheetahs were just watching between the trees. Frankly I think they were watching the kids go by, and thinking, Yeah I could snag that. But the other one was a glass panel down to the ground, and because it was early and cool one of the cheetahs kept pacing by, so I let the kids down to see.



Sam got Really Close. This was a little scary, knowing that there were but inches between these Big Cats and my baby. They may be skinny, but they have Big Feet, and big feet means...big claws.



All the kids got close. It was So Cool.



Yeah, this is about how close we were to one cheetah as she paced back and forth. Not sure if it was more amazing, awesome, or just scary.



So Pretty.



So after starting with that, how do we move on? Well, turns out the Lions were having a festive morning too. Their new male lion, was right up close to the fence this morning too. Chris got to get a good look as he was licking a rock. Yup, that's right, just licking a rock. And we were so close, like 3 feet away, you could hear that giant cat tongue scraping against the rock, listing to the grain. Ever been licked by a cat...well, imagine the sound...on steroids. That was Cool.



Then his girlfriend, let's call her Miss Shitty Kitty, showed up. She looked interested in the rock, but Mr. Lion gave her the cold shoulder...literally.



Those Big Cats are Big and Wild. And sometimes I forget just how powerful they are when we mostly see them just sleeping, but today, Today I got a good look at some Big Cats. And they were cool.

And as I was fixing to take a good picture of her, out of nowhere, she turned and snapped at Mr. Lion, and there was a split second of Big Growling. It was Loud. And Scary. But Fast. Even just a little hiccup from them can be loud, my heart raced for a good 10 minutes afterwards. The teenager Zoo volunteers just laughed it off, Oh she's been so mean and grumpy today. Mr. Lion wasn't giving up the rock. I was in scared shock.
I turned to look at the kids, and Miss Shitty Kitty stormed off. But I thought since I had my camera ready that I might have gotten a picture. This is Miss Shitty Kitty turning on Mr. Lion.



The kids were fine by the way. The thought it was only kinda cool, really they were ready to move on. So was I, but for completely different reasons. Fight or Flee? Definitely Flee.

2 comments:

Scotti Cohn said...

Great pictures of beautiful kitties! I love the Indy zoo.

Elizabeth said...

You did get some awesome pictures! My heart started racing again just reading about the lion roaring! Sheesh, that was scary! I'm a fleer too! :)