Yesterday we had three photos from reader Jon Meddings. I prepared this post with the rest of his photos, but he hadn’t yet sent the names and background information. Since he’s temporarily absconded to Europe, I’ll simply present the pictures and leave the unidentified species and subspecies to the readers.
Alaskan brown bears (Ursus arctos alascensis):
Alaskan brown bear and cub:
Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus; obviously taken in Africa):
Coyote (Canis latrans):
Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis; same species as brown bears shown above, but different subspecies). Look at those claws!
Another grizzly bear:
Impalas (Aepyceros melampus):
Lion (Panthera leo):
Wildebeest (Connochaetes sp., there are two species and I don’t know which this is):
Zebras and reflections (Equus sp.; again, there are several species and I don’t know which these are):
Finally, one of our infrequent astronomy photos, this from reader Tim Anderson in Oz:
This picture shows a close conjunction of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter shortly after sunset at Tumut, New South Wales, 20 June.
Look at the claws on the ursa!!
Nice astro photo. Every time I see one of these I chastise myself for not setting up my piggyback mount on my telescope.
Standing grizzly saying: “ya talkin’ ta me?”
Re the cheetahs being from Africa:
The Asiatic cheetah does (just barely) survive, but if he had taken this photo in Asia, it would be in the news and on the font cover of Nat Geo.
Whoa, thanks. Ashamed to say I was unaware of the Asiatic Cheetah.
The zebras appear to be plains zebras, Equus quagga. There are several subspecies that I am not qualified to distinguish between, but E. q. burchelli is the most common.
Venus and Jupiter will pass within one third of a degree of each other on the June 30/July 1, which will be worth seeing on those evenings.
Thanks for the tip. Hopefully it will be a cloudless night here in the Northwest.
And here in the Midwest. Being that it’s summer, you have a better chance than we do!
Wow, some really nice photos here. Especially the wildebeests and zebras. Amazing.
Out of all the “horrible” or “frightening” animals on the planet, I wonder why the Grizzly bear got horribilis as a part of its binomial…or I guess in this case trinomial.
They’re not the only one. There is a fish, Coelorinchus horribilis. The timber rattlesnake is Crotalus horridus, so close.
Rattlesnake…good contender for horribilis Perhaps it’s actually an honor 🙂
I believe that ‘horridus’ actually means bristly or hairy in Latin and in at least some animals’ scientific names refers to the presence of bristles rather than anything fearsome or terrible. Perhaps Diana MacPherson could confirm?
Triceratops horribilis.
Some people have the strangest meanings of “horrible”.
Best translation is often ‘Spiky’, and fits Trike very well.
One of the best compounds using ‘horri’ is horripilification: hair standing on end.
“horripilification” … so the bald are fearless. Since I have a bald safety ossifer sharing the office with me, I shall work that one into the conversation somehow,
cub
çub?