Animal Photography

2021-04-10: Phoenix Zoo

Are you food? Would you be so kind as to lie down and rot a bit? I prefer a touch of extra flavor.	Komodo dragon basking in the Phoenix sun.	Rez at the Phoenix Zoo.	An optimistic monkey at the Phoenix Zoo considers the possibilities.
A monkey at the zoo climbing through the trees.	Howler monkey at the Phoenix Zoo. He looks like he is screaming about being caged, but he seemed pretty happy and was actually just yawning.	A pink flamingo at the zoo with pretty swirled feathers.	Rez on a concrete toad at the Phoenix Zoo.
Brightly colored bird at the Phoenix Zoo.	A vibrantly colored bird at the Phoenix Zoo.	Alligator at the Phoenix Zoo out for a bit of a swim and lurk.	A big bird at the Phoenix Zoo stretching its wings.
I had a photo challenge to shoot the emotion "Trapped". This is one of the photos for that challenge. The Phoenix Zoo does a great job creating happy, healthy environments for the animals, but I managed to compose this one to make the leopard look trapped.	A colorful bird at the Phoenix Zoo.	A young elephant at the Phoenix Zoo.	A tiger at the Phoenix Zoo. I was surprised at how much water it could drink in a single sitting.
Rez riding the Merry-Go-Round - which features endangered species instead of horses - at the Phoenix Zoo.	IIRC, the Phoenix Zoo was founded on a project to save the nearly extinct Oryx. Every known living Oryx (maybe 6 animals) was brought to Phoenix, and nurtured back to a healthy population. They have been restoring them to the wild in their native habitat ever since.	A tortoise at the Phoenix Zoo. They seem to mostly rest on their shells, but for a moment this one stood up and adjusted his position while munching on grass.	One of a pair of Rhinocerous-plurals that the Phoenix Zoo is hoping will mate.
This monkey was sitting in a tree contemplating life and the future. He seemed at one with himself.	A cheetah at the zoo. If you look closely you can see the claws partially extended. Cheetahs' claws do not fully retract - they use the partially extended claws like runner's cleats.