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Friday, February 18, 2011

Great Cats of the World Park

Bengal Tiger, Samson, 480 lbs., endangered
Baby Serval, born at the park, threatened species
White tiger, Tarri, 500 lbs, endangered

Cougar, Taz, 160 lbs, native to the Pacific Northwest. These are the animals I am most afraid of when walking in the woods, they have been known to attack and kill mountain bikers. They leap upon their pry from the rock outcroppings. The guides said it is best to make a lot of noise, act big and brave, don't cower or the cats take that as a sign of vulnerability. It seems they do not like to have to fight to hard for their food, but I just as soon not want to meet up with one.

Snow Leopard, Jetta, endangered. Jetta and Yetti were in the movie Vertical Limit, they are only allowed to work for 6 minutes at a time. You can view clips of the movie by clinking on the title above and scroll down to the video clip, it shows Jetta and Yetti frolicking in the snow. I think Jetta and Yetti are brothers.

Yukon Lynx, run like a rabbit and are very fast. Her name is spitfire and she weights about 40-45 lbs.

Jaguar, Spunky, 180 lbs, endangered

Ocelot, Peppe, 25 lbs, endangered

Baby black leopard, born in captivity, endangered. They take this baby leopard to Club Northwest to play. Club Northwest is a very nice gym in Grants Pass with a great saltwater swimming pool, steam room, work out room ,basketball, etc. Here the leopard is playing with the pine cones that have fallen from the trees.

African Lion, Shakka,  480 lbs. Shakka was one of my favorite cats. The guides fed every cat a several snacks, deer meat, they receive snacks a few times a day. The larger cats only eat every other day due to their metabolism. The smaller cats eat every day. This picture show the guide offering Shakka his snack, it was the only way to get him to come up to the fence, since male lions sleep 22 hours a day as they guard the pride.


Female African lion, Zulu, she arrived at the park 2 years after Shakka, they refuse to mate. There is only a certain amount of DNA in the cat kingdom and it seems the maybe cats can sense if their DNA is too close of a match and will refuse to mate to avoid inbreeding, just a theory proposed by breeders.Very interesting story of how these cats live in the wild with their prides.

 
Caracal, Twister, endangered




I didn't get a picture if the African wildcats, that look just like our home domestic cats, but not as friendly. They are known to have the fastest paws in the world.

So, cats either roar or purr and our guide demonstrated the cats roar and purrs by offering the snacks. Although the lion roared throughout the day.
And, never turn your back to a wild cat!

5 comments:

  1. Amazing!
    Although I'm glad they're on the other side of the fence
    Great Post!!

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  2. New follower from Winter Friends Wednesday Blog Hop. Hope you follow back.
    http://grandmabonniescloset.blogspot.com

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  3. Thanks for stopping by and following back. It's nice to remember when our kids were young.
    Great pictures. I love taking the grandkids to the zoo. They would love to see those cats.

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  4. Ooooo... beautiful cats! Thanks for sharing.
    I found you on Winter Friends Wednesday and am now following your blog. Have a great day!

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  5. such lovely creatures. i've never seen a cat like the baby serval, such elegant features.

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