Adventures from Behind the Glass

Cougar, CO 2008

Usually, the key to a good animal portrait is capturing the eyes…but not always. Although my series of animal portraits: Of the Wild www.barrystevengreff.com concentrates on the eyes, I can’t resist a good growl, yawn, or shake.

Case in point, this image of a Cougar, mid yawn. In an image like this I seek to capture clean, crisp detail of the the teeth and the papillae of the tongue. These sharp, raspy projections act as a sort of comb for the animal to groom itself, just like a common house cat. Unlike Tabby, a Cougar’s tongue also allows it to remove all the meat from the bone of its prey.

The largest Cougar on record weighed 276 pounds and depending on the region of North America, are also known as mountain lion, puma and panther. Although in the wild they feed on deer, elk and moose, an occasional hiker has had their journey end when unexpectedly crossing paths with one of these beauties.