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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Two: On Safari -- expressing the essence of nature > Scratching post, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006
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02-JAN-2006

Scratching post, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006

This sleek year old lioness cub is scratching and smelling a tree -- perhaps taking note of the other lions that have left their own marks and scent there. Using my multiple imaging feature, I held down my shutter button and shot at least ten frames of this cub as she went through her territorial posturing. I chose this one because of how she composed it for me – the angle of her back and head echoes the angle of the overhead branch. I also liked the tension crackling in the space between the cub’s chin and her paw. It energizes the image.

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1/160s f/5.6 at 29.5mm iso80 full exif

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Phil Douglis24-Jan-2006 23:23
Thanks, Mo -- I don't know what she knows or doesn't know, and I hesitate to apply human emotions to her. I can only surmise that she is probably either instinctively honing her claws or else marking or acknowledging territory.
monique jansen24-Jan-2006 14:55
This is one cool cat and she knows it.
Phil Douglis24-Jan-2006 03:36
My original caption referred to that very point, but I thought that I would be "reaching" to draw a comparison between the behavior of a lioness and a domestic cat, so I removed my reference to a house cat. But apparently that comparison is not as far fetched as I had feared.
Tim May24-Jan-2006 00:20
I just saw my domestic cat do the exact same thing on a fence post - From the game parks of Africa to the backyards of California - some things are very different, yet the same.
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