Mykolaiv Zoo (photos)

On Friday I visited Mykolaiv Zoo; I'd been planning to go there a couple of times since my last visit, but something always got in the way. This time I didn't really plan it. A free, sunny day came up — Friday is my coursework day, and the coursework assignments hadn't been handed out yet, and after the job interview no one had called back either.

On the way to Mykolaiv I checked the zoo's website and learned that on September 6th there would be a celebration of thirty years of operation at the new location. All in all, I got lucky — a weekday on the eve of the celebration, there were few visitors, and I could watch the animals in peace and take photos. The staff were getting ready for the event. I doubt I'd have had a good time amid the noise, racket and crowds of people, and besides, the weather on Saturday was overcast, which means even fewer successful shots.

I mostly photographed the big cats. The lions were mostly asleep, so I didn't get many photos of them, whereas the tigers were playing with rags, wandering in the water and even sometimes running and jumping, so most of the photos are of them. The jaguars, leopards and pumas are in cages behind fine grating and behind barriers — you can't really photograph them properly. I didn't spot the servals, they were hiding; even the leopards weren't visible right away, they were tucked into the darkest corners of their cages.

Because they were so active, I got the most interesting photos of the Amur tigers:

I got comparatively few photos of the less active lions, but there are interesting ones among them. For example, a lion tearing off and trying to eat leaves from a tree.

The rest of the big-cat photos from that day are in the gallery.

I photographed the zoo's other inhabitants too, including a bear that quite recently, against its own will, became a man-eater.

The zoo grounds also sell all sorts of souvenirs to remember the place by; I couldn't resist and picked up a few magnets, a mug and a flattened 25 kopecks. Here's what it all looks like on the side of the computer case and next to it (the magnets and "The Lion King" stickers were there beforehand, as was the ladybug):