#Cincinnati zoo

[mochisquish]

Thank you, Snoop Logg...

[sleepy-bebby]

Rico the Porcupine eating corn at the Cincinnati Zoo.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Do you cry at the Cincinnati Zoo Martha the Passenger Pigeon Memorial or are you Normal

[arthistoryanimalia]

It was on this day (21 February) in 1918 that the last known Carolina Parakeet, Incas, died at the Cincinnati Zoo – in the same cage the last known Passenger Pigeon, Martha, had died only four years earlier.

Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis, Linnaeus 1758) preserved specimen in the Field Museum of Natural History collection. [Wikimedia Commons]

Audubon’s illustration of the species in original edition of The Birds of America is perhaps one of his finest works (and definitely my personal favorite!), capturing the boisterous beauty of these colorful and highly social birds as they feast on cocklebur seeds. There is even a juvenile in the mix, its head still green:

"Carolina Parrot" (Conuropsis carolinensis carolinensis subspecies), Plate XXVI in the original edition of The Birds of America (1827-38), engraving by Robert Havell, Jr. after John James Audubon’s original 1825 watercolor painting, hand-colored engraving and aquatint on wove paper. [Wikimedia Commons]

Unfortunately, the plate made for the smaller second edition is much inferior to the original, thinning out both the flock and foliage:

“Carolina Parrot or Parrakeet” (Conuropsis carolinensis carolinensis subspecies), Plate 278 in the first Royal Octavo edition of The Birds of America (1840-4), engraving by J. T. Bowen after J. J. Audubon, hand-colored stone lithograph. [Wikimedia Commons]

Those green-bodied Carolina Parakeets in Audubon’s published plates are the nominate subspecies, Conuropsis carolinensis carolinensis. He also made an unpublished watercolor of the other subspecies, Conuropsis carolinensis ludovicianus, which tended to have a more bluish body and paler yellow head plumage:

“Carolina Parrot” (Conuropsis carolinensis ludovicianus subspecies), unpublished watercolor painting by John James Audubon, 1811. [Wikimedia Commons]

The Carolina Parakeet (aka Carolina Parrot or Carolina Conure) was the northernmost ranging parrot and the only one native to the eastern United States. Audubon warned of their rapidly declining numbers during the early 1800s, describing witnessing large numbers of Carolina Parakeets being killed by landowners angered by their crop raids. The last confirmed wild sightings were in 1910, with unconfirmed sightings persisting into the 1940s; Incas was the last captive bird, and with his passing in 1918 and no further verified living specimens thereafter, the species was officially declared extinct in 1939.

Read more about the demise of the Carolina Parakeet and Audubon's valuable visual records of this now-extinct species on the blog:

[madame-helen]

[sixth-extinction]

The passenger pigeon mural in downtown Cincinnati, OH is based on an original painting by John A. Ruthven. It depicts Martha, the last of her kind, leading a flock of passenger pigeons over the Cincinnati Zoo’s aviaries.

Martha died at the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914.

More information about this mural can be found here: https://www.artworkscincinnati.org/mural/martha-the-last-passenger-pigeon/.

[achoirofcritters]

I really fell in love with the colors of this shot while editing it.

Mexican wolf at the Cincinnati Zoo, photographed by me of course! Nikon D850, 2022. https://linktr.ee/bjonesphotography

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Sloth

By Cincinnati Zoo

[onlytiktoks]

[kentuckianaphotography]

❤️🧡💛Festival of Lights at Cincinnati zoo and botanical gardens 🩵💙💜����

[youngeditor1999]

idk if you have seen this, but the Cincinnati Zoo named one of their penguin chicks after Joe Burrow and they’re just as adorably grumpy as he is: https://twitter.com/CincinnatiZoo/status/1491094957616205829

OMFG!!!!! 🥺🥹😭🤧😍🐧

No, I actually hadn't ever seen this before, so THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING, ANON!!!!!!!

I love this so much; it's so pure and wholesome 🥰💗💓💞

Every iconic NFL player deserves to have a zoo animal named after them!! 🤩💯🌟🔥

I'm including this screenshot for those who want to see what we're talking about without having to actually go to Twitter. 💙🤍🩵

[mochisquish]

[deadonfilm]

Long exposure practice

Cincinnati Zoo Festival of Lights

Minolta SRT 201

Kodak Ultramax 400

[shutterandpencil]

"Rico at Coney Island"

I sincerely hope they preserve some parts as landmarks. 🥺

Anywho, if you see this, here's a couple of petitions to preserve this piece of Cincy History:

Stop the Fill In!

Boycott The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

[cyhyraethstarr]

My daughter’s favorite. They were busy.

[madame-helen]