WINNIPEG — There has been a baby boom at the Assiniboine Zoo! I got a chance to go behind the scenes to see what it’s like to care for these fresh new faces. Pronghorn antelope, Eurasian tundra reindeer and snow leopards were the animals I had the opportunity to learn about.
WATCH: Global’s Gage Fletcher captures amazing behind the scenes footage at the Assiniboine Park Zoo
Filming animals has always been a draw for me. When I was young I would often find myself watching nature programs instead of cartoons. These shows have been one of the biggest draws to get into videography/photography, so as you could imagine assignments like this are always my favourite.
While these shoots are a lot of fun they are also good exercise in patience. Most animals typically do what they want when they want. We went in hoping to get shots of the baby Snow Leopards feeding. Unfortunately they were more sleepy than hungry, because of this we didn’t see much activity from them. It wasn’t until right before we left their enclosure that we were able to get visuals of anything other than them lying around. Briefly the mother snow leopard got up, ate some raw chicken, then immediately went back for a nap. Due to time restrictions we had to move on to the next enclosures.
The next two animals we saw were the polar opposite of the Snow Leopards. The antelope and reindeer were all too willing to perform for the camera. They were fascinated by my gear and came right up to the lens to investigate. The mother antelope was also intrigued by me. While filming her babies she kept nudging me with her horns which made it difficult to hold a steady shot.
With most shoots of this nature the more time spent with the animals, the more you get to know them and the more you know them results in a better end product. Considering the short amount of time spent at the zoo I’m happy with the way this pack turned out. I hope you enjoy this behind the scenes look at some of these new arrivals. Prepare for a cuteness overload!
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