Cougar Cubs

[SCraig]

The Nashville Zoo has had a pair of Cougar cubs for several months getting them acclimated to living in captivity. It is my understanding that they were born in the wild and a hunter killed their mother leaving them homeless. Somehow they wound up here and have only recently been turned loose into the paddock. Today was the first time I've seen them, and they are really cute.

The first is one of the cubs and the last two are the second.

I'm not 100% happy with the results of the second pair of shots. The cub was laying in the shade however that patch of grass in the upper right corner was in bright sunlight. I toned it down (a LOT!) and I'm not real thrilled with the result. I may play with it a bit more and see if I can get it better.

 

[cgipson1]

Very nice, Scott.... what cool subjects!

 

[Skhigh]

Awesome!! We have yet to go...did you shoot through a fence?

 

[SCraig]

Thanks guys. They are very cool subjects. I'm not sure how old they are but I think it's somewhere in the 6 month range.

Melissa, I was shooting through a fence. It's a woven wire fence with pretty tight mesh and did mess up my autofocus from time to time. Those were shot without a flash and while I did use my speedlight for some shots it reflected the wire of the fence and ruined them.

I love the zoo and go there a lot. I keep an annual membership since it's only a couple of miles from my home, and during the spring and fall I frequently stop by there after work just to walk around for an hour or so and clear my head. I haven't visited many zoos to compare it to but from my limited experience it's a pretty nice place.