[Bruin]

Visited Dartmoor Zoo this week (was known as Sparkwell) and just had to share this pic with you.
Anyone a fan of Calvin and Hobbes Cartoon? Well you'll recognise this as a real Streeeech..

And a couple of the Brown Bears

Thanks For Looking

[dazza74]

Great shots, #3 is a particular favourite that bear really looks like he's coming for you

EDIT :

How do you rate the zoo? looking for a zoo trip out down in the south west and can't decide between this one and paignton zoo

[Bruin]

Dartmoor Zoo is not that big and it's not cheap either. For Photography the new Tiger Mountain is perfect - the Tigers lay at eye-level with the sun on them most of the day, as per my first pic. They also boast the only zoo in Europe to not have wire between you and the tigers. The Lions are behind mesh though as are the puma and leopard. Paington Zoo, while I've not been, looks much bigger on their web-site with many more animals. Dartmoor is no more than about 3 or 4 fields in size with small cages. I went specifically to see the Bears of which there are 3, again, at eye level with no wires. So, Dartmoor is small and expencive but to photograph Bears and Tigers it's perfect.
Enjoy your visit to the area - I've just come back from staying with a friend on Dartmoor and it's beautiful.

While not really "South West" I can highly recommend Marwell Zoo just North of Southampton for the animals.

[mansell]

Originally Posted by Bruin

Dartmoor Zoo is not that big and it's not cheap either. For Photography the new Tiger Mountain is perfect - the Tigers lay at eye-level with the sun on them most of the day, as per my first pic. They also boast the only zoo in Europe to not have wire between you and the tigers. The Lions are behind mesh though as are the puma and leopard. Paington Zoo, while I've not been, looks much bigger on their web-site with many more animals. Dartmoor is no more than about 3 or 4 fields in size with small cages. I went specifically to see the Bears of which there are 3, again, at eye level with no wires. So, Dartmoor is small and expencive but to photograph Bears and Tigers it's perfect.
Enjoy your visit to the area - I've just come back from staying with a friend on Dartmoor and it's beautiful.

Great shots, I'll have to check out this Zoo when I'm in the area. Paignton Zoo is great btw and has changed alot over the years.

Chester is also worth a visit!

[Bruin]

Agree, Chester is the best Zoo I've been to in the country (and I go there often)

Just a few more of tigger for you -

And to prove he's just a big puddy cat after all,

We last visited the Zoo a few years back and I went in to the Cafe and saw 2 tiger cubs being bottle fed. The notes on the Tiger Mountain Exhibit says these 2 were born in 2000 so they were the cubs we saw back then.

[nero0410]

Love the Tiger streaching and the last Bear

Some good work

tris

[Bruin]

Thanks for your comments

[Liquid101]

Great tiger shots - however, it looks like you've been a little heavy handed with noise reduction the middle two in your second post.

[Bruin]

I was away from the PC for a couple of weeks and wanted to post them for you to see. My Dad has Paint Shop Pro which I'm not use to so I just hit "Auto Fix Pic" and these are the results.