One of the highlights of the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson AZ is the Mountain Lion enclosure, which, if I remember right, was among the first natural enclosures built in any Zoo in the US. It combines cliffs and ledges with a small pool and native plantings and provides the big cats with relatively familiar (if very restricted) habitat. I have mixed feelings about Zoos of any kind…and captive animals in general…but I understand the roll they play in research, preservation, and education, and approve of any effort to make the captives lives as normal as possible. And the natural enclosure at the SDM certainly provides an opportunity to photograph the Mountain Lion that would be very hard to come by in the cat’s own territory. For me a zoo is always going to be a guilty pleasure.

This Mountain Lion has certainly maintained its dignity in captivity, and I am thankful for that as much a short the image.

Sony HX400V at about 500mm equivalent field of view. ISO 1000 @ 1/250th @ f5.6. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.