The King of the Jungle
This ferocious young man is the pride of the zoo, the king of beasts, the lion of doom.
Well, I added the, “of doom,” part.
His wife, on the other hand, isn’t impressed. Snooze city.
He’s actually not all that young, and he’s been at the zoo for a while. They are seriously threatened in the wild and Brookfield Zoo participates in an international Species Survival Plan to try and conserve these majestic creatures. They are African lions, mostly nocturnal, though we did get to hear him roar one evening long about closing time.
Lions spend about 20 hours a day asleep. Kind of like house cats, really. In fact, in the book Tribe of Tiger: Cats and Their Culture, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, biologists liken house cats’ behavior most closely with that of lions.
Just makes you want to pet her, doesn’t she?
Um. Maybe… not?
Tomorrow, we get to visit the Mexican Grey Wolves.
Thank you for joining me for the A-Z Blog Challenge. If you’re blogging in the challenge, please leave me a link so I can come visit you too. If you have a moment, please check out these other fine blogs:
My theme on my Knoontime Knitting craft blog is Letterforms In Nature and the Built Environment. I’ll be exploring my daily round, looking for shapes in the natural world and build environment.
The theme at Noon & Wilder is The A To Z of Chicago. Since I live here in the city and we have our Chicagoland Shifters based here, I figured I’d share a window into the city, Noon & Wilder style.
The Nice Girls Writing Naughty have a new home, and we’re blogging in the challenge again this year. Throughout the month you’ll be hearing from each of the Nice Girls, and during the RT Booklovers Convention from April 12th to the 17th, you’ll be getting live convention reports. Join the conversation!
The Writer Zen Garden’s brand new website is up and running, and we’re bringing you posts from me, Noony; my partner in crime, Rachel Wilder (the Wilder half of Noon & Wilder); the talented Darla M. Sands – a blogger in her own right, see below; as well as Grace Kahlo, Evey Brown, and author Tina Holland. Check it out!
My friends who are participating in the challenge (and if you’re not on this list, tell me and I’ll add you!):
- Darla M. Sands, Awakening Dreams and Conquering Nightmares with a Pen
- Kari Trenten, The Cauldron of Eternal Inspiration
Write on, and Happy Blogging!
So you are going to the zoo almost every day? in the top photo, is the lion roaring or yawning? There\’s something to be said for zoos because they can protect the last of a species or help it become re-established.
Oh, no. I\’ve done three photoshoots for this challenge, plus I have the photos from a couple other trips (we\’re members there). When I do a shoot, I take between 300 and 500 shots, so I have a large library from which to choose. I like doing it that way because I love being behind the camera. I don\’t love darkroom or Photoshop work, which my husband likes, I also don\’t like studio work particularly, also what he likes. So it\’s interesting; our photography doesn\’t really intersect all that much. He\’s the pro in the family. 🙂
The lion in this shot is yawning, but I love that it\’s not clear. I couldn\’t find the ones of him roaring in the time I had for prepping for the post. If I can go back and dig them out when time calms down, I will; I wish I caught it on video. It was bone chilling. All he\’s doing is seeing if there are other males in his territory, but it raises the hairs on the back of your neck.