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It's All Happening At The Zoo (1 Viewer)

Joe Wong

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Thanks Scott...I thought it was a rare pose (including the male and female in the background) so I had to take advantage of it...glass and all!
I did have a CPL filter on so I don't know if that helped. Or maybe it was just the angle of the shot.
Joe
 

Scott Merryfield

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Here are a couple of shots from our visit yesterday morning. It was a pretty uneventful 2 hour visit, but I liked these two:
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Mike Frezon

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Scott:

That polar bear shot is wonderful...for so many reasons.

What kind of animal is in shot #4?

I was showing them to my wife and when we got to the last image (she was too far away to read the text), she asked, "I'm having trouble with the perspective in that last shot. Is he jumping over the other kangaroo?!?"
 

Scott Merryfield

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Thanks, Mike. Two of the polar bears were very close to us on this visit, allowing for some nice photo opportunities.
The animal in shot #4 is a bush dog, which is native to South & Central America. They are quite small (not much bigger than a prairie dog), and are usually hiding in their dens or sleeping along the edge of the exhibit when we visit, but this time two of them were out.
The animal in the last shot is actually a wallaby that appears to be jumping over the kangaroo. The Outback Adventure exhibit has a few wallabees along with quite a few more red kangaroos. The exhibit is unique in that you actually walk through the area where the kangaroos and wallabees roam. There is a defined walking path for the patrons, and the animals will occasionally hop right across the path.
 

Scott Merryfield

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That looks interesting, David. There was a similar park in northern Michigan quite a few years ago called Project Nature. They promoted themselves as "northern Michigan's largest theme park", which we always found humorous. There were no other theme parks in northern Michigan. :laugh: Unfortunately, they were not successful financially and shutdown before they could completely build out the park.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Here are a few from a different place than my normal zoo shots. These are from the Wildlife Nature Center in Asheville, NC. We were in the Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains last week and visited this rescue center.
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Scott Merryfield

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Made another trip to the Detroit Zoo this morning, and saw a few new things. That is what my wife and I like about our zoo visits -- every time we go, we always see something different.
This was the first time we ever saw the arctic foxes in the Arctic exhibit. They roam free along with the polar bears. These were shot through glass.
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This is by far the best view we've had of the tree kangaroo. I told my wife that his expression reminds me of actor Corey Feldman from The Goonies.
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The zoo just opened a new exhibit for their two new slender-snouted crocodiles:
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The zoo also just received two elands in August. They are the world's 2nd largest antelope:
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All these were processed using Lightroom 4. I am starting to get the hang of it, but I still find the program a little cumbersome doing a few things.
 

Scott Merryfield

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From a visit yesterday:
Arctic fox
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River otter (shot through glass)
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The grizzly cubs are getting bigger
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Wolverine on the prowl after Michigan's big comeback win this weekend
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The world's dirtiest polar bear
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Mike Frezon

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Beautiful shots, Scott.

The textures on each shot look terrific.

Was it an overcast day? It doesn't look like you've got any bright sun issues...yet plenty of nice light.

The grizzly shot is my favorite of these. What a beast (and yet a cub!).
 

Scott Merryfield

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Thanks, Mike. Yes, we only had a little bit of sun while we were there yesterday morning. It was pretty warm, though, so the place was quite busy for November.
The grizzly cubs have been a blast to watch this spring and summer -- the zoo got three of them at the end of last year. As you can see, they are really getting big. Since all three are males, I would guess they will eventually have to split them up -- grizzlies are by nature solitary and territorial animals.
Here is one more of the arctic fox. You can really see the color change for winter compared with the photos in post #132 above. This time I was able to get a clean shot not through the glass that hurt the photos in post #132.
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