It is hard to know what an Orangutan might be longing for, if anything. Hard not to be anthropomorphic about its wants and desires, especially when they strike a pose so human like that it is frightening.

Melbourne Zoo.

Tags:   Orangutan ape primate Melbourne Zoo Nikon D500 Tamron 150-600 Animal zoo

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We had a speaker at our Camera Club yesterday to talk about methods for darkening backgrounds for wildlife images. This was one of the Zebra's at Melbourne Zoo I photographed a few weeks ago. It was such a cheeky animal and hilarious to watch the keeper trying to get it into it's night den. All of the other Zebras went running in straight away when the keeper opened the gate and called them in. This one hung back. He would then walk up to about 20 m to the gate and go running back in the opposite direction to hide around the corner of the fence. He would then run back and do the same thing again, teasing the keeper into thinking he was going to go through the gate. He did this about 10 times before finally going through, to the cheers of those watching. I imagine this could be a nightly ritual.

Tags:   Zebra Melbourne Zoo animal Monochrome Black and White zoo animal portrait Nikon D500 Tamron 150-600

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For those needing comfort right now.

I love the protective way the mother Hamadryas baboon is holding her baby.

Sorry I have not been able to catch up with most of my lovely Flickr contacts of late. I am still quite unwell and am very slow and tired (can't put it down to old age just yet!).
Will hopefully be back on top of things soon. x
sorry I can see where I have done a crappy job on some of the fur on the back on mum. Don't look too closely :) It was done awhile ago.

Tags:   Famous Five Melbourne Zoo zoo

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...Bare. Not much apparently!
Yes Koalas are not bears and are actually most closely related to Wombats. Still, it would be unAustralian not to include this well-worn "joke"

This Koala didn't bat an eyelid as the sprinkles were turned on, probably a lovely respite from the heat of the day.

Try as I might, I could not get the entire Koala in, even standing on my tiptoes due to a fence in front.

Taken at Healesville Sanctuary during a beautiful day with the FFF group, led by the lovely Jan, a volunteer guide, who kindly showed us around.

Tags:   FFF plus Healesville Sanctuary Koala Zoo Phascolarctos cinereus Marsupial Mammal Australian Mammal Australian Wildlife Wildlife Nikon D500 Nikon 200-500 animal

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This bird is the National Emblem of Victoria. As such, it should be a constant reminder of our terrible track record for animal extinctions in this country. This species is Critically Endangered with a small wild population of less than 100 birds. It is isolated
as a tiny relict population in the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve Victoria.

Organisations such as Healesville Sanctuary where this was photographed, are leading the conservation efforts in the recovery of this species.

The Flickr Five Plus group are all posting our images of this bird today in solidarity and support of bird conservation.

Tags:   FFF plus Healesville Sanctuary Flickr Conservation Helmeted Honeyeater zoo Honeyeater bird Critically Endangered Endangered Bird threatened Bird Nikon D500 Victorian Bird

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