PHOTOGRAPHY - PG 4

In this photo, is the popular elephant ride at the Texas Renaissance Festival in Magnolia, north of Houston. It's a traditional festival which goes on for several weeks each year. At this attraction, elephants walk up to this wooden platform and people who have bought a ticket for a ride get onto the back of the elephant which is slowly walked around a ring.

Giant Galapagos Tortoise goes for a walk across a field

This Galápagos Tortoise suddenly decided to take a walk across this field. I managed to get a close up photo of the big turtle before it could escape. They're classified as Geochelone nigra and can weigh up to 600lbs. It's said that this particular tortoise is nearly 100 years old, and may live to be 150 years of age.

Northern Map Turtle sits on a river rock sunbathing

This particular reptile species is the Graptemys geographica, better known as the northern map turtle. I found this beautiful turtle sitting comfortably on a river rock and sunbathing. It's impressive how this tortoise identified the perfect rock and climbed onto it for a nice afternoon sunbathe.

Brown bears plays on his back rolling and maintaining eye contact

This silly brown bear rolled around on his back for some time, while maintaining eye contact with me. I can tell he doesn't have many cares in this world.

Patty Bear died the oldest Andean Spectacled Bear in the Houston Zoo

Patty Bear died at the age of 31 in the Houston Zoo where she spent most of her happy long life. She was the oldest known Andean Bear when she died. They're more commonly known as the South American Spectacled bear. They have an average life expectancy of 25 years when cared for in a habitat. On this day, she seemed happy and was just relaxing like that for a while. She showed me her teeth and was curious.

An Arctic wolf paces around in its habitat

This pacing wolf is the Arctic Wolf, whose species is the Canis Lupus Arctos. Arctic wolves are in the gray wolf family and many people call them Polar wolves due to their color and region of origin. They primarily inhabit Greenland and some parts of North America. They are closely related to the Northwestern wolf which is species Canis Lupus Occidentalis and are typically more gray in color.

Tamandua anteater is hunting in grass to find ants

This is a closeup photo of a Tamandua anteater as he searches for ants in the grass. Tamanduas are in the Myrmecophagidae family. They love forests and grassy areas, and prefer eating ants and termites as their diet. It was an extremely friendly but careful animal that could almost be a pet, but it's not recommended.

Photography pgs continued: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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