Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: interestingness#133

Photo of this beautiful, ENDANGERED Grevy's Zebra was taken at the Calgary Zoo on 8 September 2012, when I went with my friends from England for the day. "The Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi), also known as the imperial zebra, is the largest extant wild equid and the largest and most endangered of the three species of zebra, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra. Named after Jules Grévy, it is the sole extant member of the subgenus Dolichohippus. The Grévy's zebra is found in Kenya and Ethiopia. Compared with other zebras, it is tall, has large ears, and its stripes are narrower. The Grévy's zebra lives in semi-arid grasslands where it feeds on grasses, legumes, and browse; it can survive up to five days without water. It differs from the other zebra species in that it does not live in harems and has few long-lasting social bonds. Male territoriality and mother–foal relationships form the basis of the social system of the Grévy's zebra. This zebra is considered to be endangered. Its population has declined from 15,000 to 3,000 since the 1970s. However, as of 2008 the population is stable." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%A9vy's_zebra

This was one of the Llamas on a ranch in the Cochrane Wildlife Preserve/Water Valley, where we conducted a Christmas Bird Count on 29th December. Farmers sometimes keep a Llama on their property to keep away the Coyotes. Just look at those gorgeous eyelashes : ) "Llamas appear to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America and Asia about 3 million years ago. By the end of the last ice age (10,000–12,000 years ago) camelids were extinct in North America. As of 2007, there were over 7 million llamas and alpacas in South America and, due to importation from South America in the late 20th century, there are now over 100,000 llamas and 6,500–7,000 alpacas in the US and Canada." From Wikipedia.

This is such a much-photographed tropical species, but I always enjoy seeing them at the Calgary Zoo Conservatory (that is closing down ready for a year of construction to build a better Conservatory and Butterfly House). I find the optical illusion of the image being narrower at the top than at the bottom edge a little annoying : )