Color photo. Three one year old lion cubs, lying on a metal platform. They are tawny, with fading spots on their sides, legs, and belly. The further two are half sitting up and looking to the left. The closest is lying on its side and is staring ahead. They look very pettable.

This past weekend the Cougar Mountain Zoo‘s three lion cubs celebrated their first birthday, and I swung by to get some photos of the occasion.

I missed the whip-cream smeared windows in their tunnel, but caught the sugar crash afterwards when they were plopped out on a platform together.  I did manage to be present later for their “birthday cakes”: a frozen disc of blood sandwiched between two discs of frozen goat cheese.  They seemed to enjoy those a lot, unsurprisingly.  😀

Gear: Nikon Z 7II, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 G

Color photo. Three one year old lion cubs, lying on a metal platform. They are tawny, with fading spots on their sides, legs, and belly. The further two are half sitting up and looking to the left. The closest is lying on its side and is staring ahead. They look very pettable.
Color photo. A one year old lion cub, lying on green grass. Between its front paws is a red disc of frozen blood. The lion cub is licking the disc.
Color photo. A tawny one year old lion cub sits on a rock pile. Its up on its front legs, head lowered, staring intently to the left. The cub and rock pile are framed by a blue sky filled with wispy clouds.