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Description
I wish I could claim to have captured this image in an alpine meadow, high in the mountains of Central Asia, where the Siberian Ibex resides; but the reality of it is much more pedestrian. I shot this photo at the Bronx Zoo in New York, nearly four years ago, in an enclosure inhabited by a snow leopard.

I'm not even 100% positive that this is the skull of a Siberian Ibex, but after an hour or so of online sleuthing, and a call to the zoo, I'm reasonably certain. I should receive a call confirming my belief within a day or two, from the very lovely person who answered my call, whose name is Wanda.

At first, I naively thought this skull belonged to an African antelope, because I thought I remembered it as being part of the tiger exhibit. So I began my research by looking through 20 pages of online photos of antelope skulls. During that hunt, I came up with the idea of calling the zoo; and it was during my conversation with Wanda today that I learned the only outdoor exhibit of a large cat at that time was of a snow leopard.

After our call, I quickly Googled snow leopard, and found that the Siberian Ibex is a main part of this moderately large cat's diet. Another quick search and I found some pictures of the ibex's horns, which seemed to confirm my deduction/assumption. So, barring a phone call with different (but correct) information, the title of this post will remain the same. Thank you for your assistance, Wanda!

This is slight re-edit of a picture from April, 2007 - which was originally titled "Skull" - in preparation for it's posting as Picture of the Day on my blog. I may also submit this image to a juried photo show - my first-ever!

Description
I wish I could claim to have captured this image in an alpine meadow, high in the mountains of Central Asia, where the Siberian Ibex resides; but the reality of it is much more pedestrian. I shot this photo at the Bronx Zoo in New York, nearly four years ago, in an enclosure inhabited by a snow leopard.

I'm not even 100% positive that this is the skull of a Siberian Ibex, but after an hour or so of online sleuthing, and a call to the zoo, I'm reasonably certain. I should receive a call confirming my belief within a day or two, from the very lovely person who answered my call, whose name is Wanda.

At first, I naively thought this skull belonged to an African antelope, because I thought I remembered it as being part of the tiger exhibit. So I began my research by looking through 20 pages of online photos of antelope skulls. During that hunt, I came up with the idea of calling the zoo; and it was during my conversation with Wanda today that I learned the only outdoor exhibit of a large cat at that time was of a snow leopard.

After our call, I quickly Googled snow leopard, and found that the Siberian Ibex is a main part of this moderately large cat's diet. Another quick search and I found some pictures of the ibex's horns, which seemed to confirm my deduction/assumption. So, barring a phone call with different (but correct) information, the title of this post will remain the same. Thank you for your assistance, Wanda!

This is slight re-edit of a picture from April, 2007 - which was originally titled "Skull" - in preparation for it's posting as Picture of the Day on my blog. I may also submit this image to a juried photo show - my first-ever!