Wild Hides Behind Wide Eyes

I’ve taken many shots of Nindiri, the jaguar over the years (since she’s my favorite of all the big cats), but I had never before caught her with her eyes so wide! She makes no secret of the fact that she’s a ferocious jaguar, and seems to feel a certain responsibility to live up to the South American native word for jaguar, yaguara, which means “animal that kills in a single bound”. So, her natural expression tends to be more serious looking, with eyes barely open - the phrase “if looks could kill” comes to mind. But somehow, I was lucky to catch a glimpse of the sweeter side of this wild girl. Maybe she thought she was hiding so well that no one would notice, or perhaps, in true cat-like fashion, she just didn’t care. But my affection for her grew even stronger, seeing this new facet of her personality!