timwheatley.org » Lincoln Park Zoo

A Year In Lincoln Park Zoo Photographs

Tim Wheatley — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:32:58 +0000

I haven’t visited Lincoln Park Zoo as much since we moved out of the city. In 2007-2008 I probably visited once a week and some of the animals began to act differently as I would often be walking around the Zoo long before it officially opened and was sometimes there while they were being fed. I think this led some of them to become quite comfortable with me and allowed me to recognize patterns (the Polar Bears 6:30am morning swim, for example).

This is a free Zoo, in the city of Chicago, and I believe the oldest Zoo in the United States. I love it.

I’ve become so used to shooting at this zoo that it was very hard to pick just 12 photos from the two trips to the zoo I made during the year… I left out some that I like more for various reasons.

Anyway, here are 12 photos from the zoo, all shot in 2011:

Polar Bear Underwater

Seal

Gorilla

Caiman

Monkey

Red Wolf

Puma

Fennec Fox

Gorilla

Giraffe

Chimpanzee

Tigers - This made is into my top-12 purely on content, rather than quality!

Also check out my Brookfield Zoo 12.

Polar Bear Attacks Woman at Berlin Zoo

Tim Wheatley — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:45:55 +0000

Apparently this woman leapt into the Polar Bear enclosure at feeding time and was attacked (as can be seen on the video), while passers by attempted to distract the Polar Bears with flotation devices, etc. Although I think it’s more likely that she fell in there (you can clearly see that she is trying to get up the wall in the video, not stay in there), it’s a pretty amazing piece of footage.

I visited with the Polar Bears at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo quite a bit, and never really let it leave my mind that the cute think behind the glass would just love to kill me if it was hungry… I really hope this woman wasn’t stupid enough to think they were too cute, or was ill enough to select this as her method for suicide. If she did, she certainly seemed to have changed her mind after the first bite.

Polar Bear Swimming

Tim Wheatley — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:22:58 +0000

This morning’s trip to the Zoo may have been cut short when I felt I either had to leave or crap myself because of the Coffee I’d drank shortly before. But, I had a nice and close encounter with a Polar Bear. I’ve edited a few of my videos together, hope you like it.

Starbucks REALLY stir my stomach up!

Tim Wheatley — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:15:10 +0000

You probably won’t want to read this if you’re turned off by toilet humor or brutal honesty. ;)

I went to Starbucks this morning for a cup of coffee… (Bear in mind this is real coffee, something we don’t drink that much in England, it’s very strong compared to our stuff…) I carried on walking around, taking pictures of the city, sipping from my coffee cup. I walked to Lincoln Park Zoo and continued taking pictures, then it came to leaving…

I walked through Lincoln Park and – OH MY GOD – I literally HAD to take a taxi because either it was that, or I was going to crap my pants right there. The whole taxi ride home I was farting silently – but nervously – wondering with each one whether it would be the one that would deliver wetness…

As the taxi pulled up at the back of our house, I handed him way too much money (but payment that he was probably due, considering the way his taxi smelled by the time I departed it), got out, waddled upstairs, sat on the toilet and just exploded…

I really need to learn from this and avoid Coffee entirely like I used to. I need my mum to send me some Douwe Egberts Instant Coffee from the UK…

Lincoln Park Zoo Video

Tim Wheatley — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:06:11 +0000

Here’s a video and a couple of photos from Sheila and I, featuring our trip to Lincoln Park Zoo yesterday. In the video you can see Red Wolves, Lions, Gorillas, Baboons and some Monkeys. It was a cold day (-6°f / -22°c) but it was worth it. I love the place and it’s great when it’s quiet like it was yesterday.

The Baboon didn’t seem to like Sheila very much…

Animal Magic

Tim Wheatley — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:16:07 +0000

Here’s a selection of videos I took yesterday while at Lincoln Park Zoo. Photographs from the day will be added sometime this evening.

Male Lion rolling over:

Female Lion Roaring:

Two Otters Playing/Fighting:

A Rabbit, very close to a Black Bear:

Ever watched a Nature Show?

Tim Wheatley — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:07:31 +0000

I got a little nature show (you know the ones I mean… the ones where you see a cute Seal being eaten by a Killer Whale) while walking through Lincoln Park yesterday. A little baby Rabbit was being chased around by two crows and for the most part he seemed to be out-smarting them. I wasn’t there to see how things ended, but I guess whichever one got tired first was the loser.

Lincoln Park Zoo Videos

Tim Wheatley — Tue, 15 May 2007 00:35:14 +0000

Here is a long video of an extremely acrobatic Gibbon:

Here are some swimming Beavers:

Photos from 12th May (when these videos were shot) are on the photos page.

Wolves Howling

Tim Wheatley — Wed, 09 May 2007 21:29:53 +0000

From the YouTube description I wrote:
I had just walked past the wolves in Lincoln Park Zoo when an Ambulance drove by. The wolves started howling at the ambulance and as I ran back I recorded this so I’d have something if they stopped by the time I reached them… The video is mainly for the audio obviously, but if you’d like to see a picture, I did manage to get one right after I stopped recording, it can be found on my photos page in the gallery of Lincoln Park Zoo, dated May 8th 2007.

Polar Bear Swimming

Tim Wheatley — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:01:08 +0000