WildView™

August 28, 2018

Azul in the Pool

- as seen by -

Taryn Teegan

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Meet Azul. Perhaps some of you have already been introduced. Azul and her sister, Nadia, were featured not long ago in Animal Planet’s hit show, The Zoo. I have the privilege of caring for the silly, bold, adventurous, and thoroughly wet Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) you see splashing around in the picture above.

It is often said that cats don’t like getting wet. Tell that to Azul! Tigers are one of the few large cats that actually enjoy the water. If you swing by the Bronx Zoo’s Tiger Mountain on a summer day, you might get lucky and catch Azul swimming or one of our Amur tigers lounging in the shallows.

This particular photo was a lot of fun. It was a hot and humid morning so I knew I had a good chance of getting Azul to jump in the water to play.

It didn’t take long to get her attention, and soon after, Azul was in the water a-splishin’ and a-splashin. She’d stalk me, pounce in the water, and chase me back and forth in the pool while I encouraged her playfulness and cheered her on from the other side of the glass.

This amazing photo was captured while Azul had been romping around in the water for over 20 minutes. I was exhausted from all the play well before Azul, but also extremely satisfied knowing I had provided some exciting enrichment to an animal in my care.

Until next time Azul…

Nikon D5

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