Posted on 08/22/2014 2:28:39 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER
National Geographic‘s Vincent J Musi will quite literally do whatever it takes to get the animal portrait he’s looking for, including kneeling in urine while singing Tom Jones’ “What’s New Pussycat?” to a growling Snow Leopard… hand gestures included.
(Excerpt) Read more at petapixel.com ...
Nice pics!
Great pics, wow!
Big kitty ping.
SO beautiful.... Jaguar is my favorite!!
Thanks for posting, SWAMPSNIPER. Beautiful animals BUMP!
Oh meow! Beautiful, majestic, I wish I could pet them like a house cat. Until I saw the teeth,
I still wish I could pet them, but will do so only in my dreams. I don’t want to be a kitty dinner.
VA Ping! Reference to Mill Mountain Zoo in Roanoke - some of the photos were taken there.
Stunning.
Snow Leopard. Dude be all like, “you have a critical life choice to make in about .5 seconds.”
Nice! Kittehs getz their pikchahs took!
So beautiful. Don’t know how anyone could kill them and close those incredible eyes.
Ocelot
This beautiful, shy and reclusive little cat once ranged as far east as Arkansas and Louisiana, throughout Texas and in Mexico. Today ocelots are currently found only in extreme southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. The remnant U.S. ocelot population in south Texas has declined from 80-120 individuals in 1995 to less than 50 in recent years, with about half of ocelot deaths resulting from being hit by automobiles. Most surviving Texas ocelots are in the shrub lands remaining at or near the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge near Brownsville, where only 30-35 animals remain.
The Ocelot also usually gives birth to only one kitten although litters of two or three kittens also occur, but are not common. The small litter size and relative infrequency of breeding make the ocelot particularly vulnerable to extinction.
The ocelot is similar in appearance to a domestic cat although somewhat larger. The ocelot ranges from 27 to 39 inches in length, plus 10 to 18 inches in tail length, and typically weighs 18 to 40 pounds.
Its fur resembles that of a clouded leopard or jaguar and was once regarded as very valuable. As a result, hundreds of thousands of ocelots were once killed for their fur. Hunting and loss of habitat have reduced these beautiful little cat's numbers to near extinction in North America.
What can we do to save this beautiful little cat from extinction?
Thanks, great find!
So gorgeous. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I do love lions.
The tiger tickles me. Look at his first pic...classic catspeak for “I’m getting a little sick of you.” Check out the expression, and the ears starting to lay back.
Second picture-—he blows his stack, LOL. And in the last, eyes are still dilated, and he’s like, “And don’t come back!”
Thank you for these, SWAMPSNIPER.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.