WildView™

September 8, 2014

North American Natural Heritage

- as seen by -

Scott Silver

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Zoo visitors gain an appreciation for wildlife through experiences they may not otherwise have. Few will ever have the opportunity to see some of our animals in a truly wild setting.

At the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo, we have North American wildlife. The same wildlife people could see if they were to travel to Yellowstone National Park: bison, pronghorn, coyotes, eagles, and elk, for instance.

This picture at the Queens Zoo, could also pass for Yellowstone.

Our bull Roosevelt elk is just losing the soft velvety covering that helps him to grow a magnificent rack of antlers. Just like in Yellowstone, as summer ends, he begins to rub that velvet off when he comes into rut for the breeding season. The remnants of it hang from his antlers.

Settings like this give New Yorkers an appreciation for the wildlife that is our natural heritage – only in this case, they don’t have to leave New York to see it.

Nikon D4

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