A few weeks ago I had a Sunday off and wanted to keep honing my photography skills, so I thought a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo was in order. Next week I will post the entire zoo collection but I found this image spoke to me and wanted to share it separately.
Is he thinking? Has something exciting beyond the cage caught his eye? Is he missing the open plains? Yearning for new experiences?
Or is he content? Waiting patiently for lunch? Happily knowing his meal will be the same as it was yesterday and the day before? Is he preparing to take another nap knowing no dangers are close by?
It bothers me that I don’t know. I might never have ever seen a Amur Leopard if this one wasn’t passing the years waiting for crowds of zoo-goers to “look at the big cat”. I was glad to have spent a few minutes (more then most passers by) with this great animal, but was a little sad at the same time.
Amur Leopard
Nikon D800 Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 w/ 1.4 tele @ 280mm f/4 ISO 100 1/13 sec