Zoo photography is something I enjoy as may have already been noted 😉
And there are a few places I have visited where I never touched the photos at all.
So tonight I revisited a set I took at Loro Park in Tenerife, which had been sitting on my SSD since December 2017!
I had not touched any of them bar one Penguin photo. In part, I think this was down to them being quite arsey with me when I arrived with the camera and 70-200. Forcing me to sign waivers that I don't go off selling images to Getty.
So it really put me off for this length of time. But tonight I faced the images, looked through for ones that I liked and here I shall share!
Birds!
King Penguins
I loved the way this pair of Kings were standing, almost a mirror of one another, plus with the focal point of the shot, it worked out well to make them stand out next to the rest of the colony.
Puffin
As odd as this may sound, this was the first time I had seen a puffin. and yet I live fairly close to an Island that does expedition visits to see the massive colony that lives there. So this was a real treat for me!
Cockatoo
I've caught two types of Cockatoo here, as you can see one has a pink tint to their coat with an orange crest while the other is pure white.
And we can see the white Cockatoo up close with this image here.
Macaw
Up close as is safe to be with a Macaw, as that beak will do damage if you startle them!
And in contrast a Scarlet Macaw.
parrot and parakeets really are the main species Loro park aim to focus on, with their own website stating they have 4500 different species (if I read it correctly!) so ID'ing them at least for me is pushing things now, these two escape me, as does the final bird I am posting, I just do not have a clue what this one is!
Not birds!
This first one, a White Tiger Is a curious one, may be controversial as well. it's stated that for this to happen then both parents need to have a recessive gene that when combined affects the colour pigmentation. But there is also talk of potential inbreeding issues due to a small pool of breeding pairs, so while I'm happy to share the image, I do feel unsure over the White Tiger in general. If anyone has any thoughts, please do share, would be interesting to hear.
Alligator
The only thing I can think of here is, I'm just glad I wasn't by a lake and this one just came floating along, that would have been a wake-up call if it did!
Galapagos Tortoise
My word, seeing a Galapagos Tortoise was something else, the sheer size of them was massively impressive to see.
I don't think the photos can do justice to convey how large they are.
Western Gorilla
Expressive and forever watching. Loro Park say that they helped create a colony for this group of 7 males that had once all lived solo lives in less well-funded locations with the aim of helping their social development.