Snow Leopard Cub

This is one of 2 cubs that were born in Dublin Zoo around 2 months ago. They joined the exhibit last week.

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So cute. Nice photo of the cub!

Ahh it looks like a little kitten.

Really looks tame and cute.

But in a few months...

It was funny to watch it and it's sibling "play hunting" with each other last Friday during lunch. I tried to take a few photos but it was too dark in the shade to catch the movement. Only 2 months old and they are already learning life skills.

Great shot, what range was it taken at?

Cute

Dan

Lovely portrait of the cub.

Thanks folks! I shot it at 100mm from around 1.5 to 2 metres.

I take it that you like the big cats (from you avatar), you have done a beautiful job on this one. Well done Joe.

Thanks. I love big cats. And going to Africa didn't exactly do anything to reduce that.

how did you take it, were you on the other side of a fence to him?

They were actually inside. The weather was too hot for them so they had stayed in their house which has a viewing window. The mother and the two cubs were on a wooden bench. One was asleep in front fo mom, she was asleep and this little fella was suckling. It got up, pestered it's sibling for a moment and then lay down facing the window. It was fascinated by the throngs of mothers and kids who had come to see it. The zoo made a big deal out of the birth (2 months ago) and they'd only gone on show last week.

I'd staked a corner of the window and waited for somethign to happen. It was looking out at the children, I kneeled and snapped a few before it fell asleep. The processing: levels, shadows, sharpened, curves (slight S), applied a red filter, channels (monochrome, and played witht eh 4 settings until I got something I liked) and then added some contrast. It was shot at ISO 400 so there was some noise. I ran Noiseninja for that. Between noise and the glass, the detail of the eyes isn't perfect.

They were definitely the main attraction..... along with the Amur Tigers who tried to rip a stupid girls arm off recently.

Beautiful animal, great shot.

Wow thats just an amazing shot.