Persian King
Sleeping Lion
Posted by Amir (Tehran, Iran) on 21 May 2008 in Animal & Insect and Portfolio.
Fort Worth, TX
Taken during my visit to Fort Worth zoo. Poor lion's artificial habitat was too small for him. God, they are better off in nature. Zoo is animal prison, but unlike people who are in prison, they have not committed any crime.
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Saeed from Tehran, Iran
very nice shot , i like to take some photoes from animals ...
21 May 2008 5:31am
Arash from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
well done, maybe better if you zoom more.
21 May 2008 10:07am
@Arash: More zoom would have interfered the composition I was aiming to achieve
@Daroru: indeed
yiannis krikis from thessaloniki, Greece
you catch a nice moment I like this image a lot
21 May 2008 3:24pm
vu@granby - Wolfgang from Granby, Québec, Canada
No wonder people say "Lazy like a lion!"
21 May 2008 5:36pm
Johanne Prescott from Granby,Québec, Canada
Wow, beautiful picture.Congratulation!!
21 May 2008 9:42pm
Ahmad from Larestan, Iran
عین مرد نشسته!! کنتراست رنگی خوبی ایجاد شده...موفق باشی
21 May 2008 10:00pm
Richard_Irwin from Belper, United Kingdom
Cool shot, but I'd bet he'd quickly wake up and then gobble you up if you got any closer.
21 May 2008 10:22pm
Earnest from Oklahoma, United States
I must say I agree on your comment and that it's an unfortunate fact that if people were not introduced to animals in this way that there would be even more cruelty than there already is to animals in and out of the wild... sadly, we are the worst animals[/b] of all.
22 May 2008 12:37am
paulski from Muncie, IN, United States
beautiful image; love the vibrancy of the colors. and totally agree about the inhumaneness, as well. lions in particular always seem to get stuffed into tiny cages...
22 May 2008 1:26am
Kelela from Upland, United States
Fabulous capture. Majestic subject in a great composition!
22 May 2008 1:45am
Twelvebit from Victoria, United States
He's a magnificent animal. Very nice shot. I share you view on zoos. I hate to see animals in cages --these modern zoos are an improvement over the horrible treatment in the past, but they're still, like you say, an animal prison.
I'm not sure I can completely agree with Earnest. I definitely agree that man is the worst of all known animals but I don't believe seeing animals in zoos makes any difference to the the way they're treated. If you've never seen the movie "King Kong" you should give it a look --both the original and the remake by Peter Jackson. The original is a rather brutal portrait of the standard human attitude about animals in general, and about what is different or unusual. It's all the more saddening because it is completely without pretense --it merely depicts the unabashed attitude of the time when it was made.
The Peter Jackson movie is self-aware about how Kong, and animals in general, are treated, and obviously intends this depiction as commentary about the nature of man. Both movies make me think of the Mark Twain quip: "Man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to."
22 May 2008 4:14am
Michael Rawluk from Prince George, Canada
Go on in. He is asleep. He won't bother you.
22 May 2008 4:43am
Canon PowerShot A640
1/200 second
F/4.1
ISO 400
30 mm