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The tiger was a lot closer to the fence than I expected, watching the tourists with a disdainful look as it lounged in the afternoon heat. The fence mostly blurred out of view, but I didn't notice a dry leaf in front of its face to the left of its mouth.
At the Safari Park run by the San Diego Zoo. The tigers have quite a bit of space, and this isn't the only shade, which makes me think they were people watching.
Looking at the photo reminded me: Tigers and other large cats have round pupils, unlike housecats. I read an article a while back on a study that linked pupil shape to ecological niche: Horizontal pupils mainly appear in prey animals, and vertical pupils in predators low to the ground, because of the impact on visual field, glare, and distance comparison. Higher off the ground the vertical slits don't help as much, so bigger cats kept round pupils.
http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/08/07/pupil-shape-and-ecological-niche/
@kelsonv That's really interesting. Thanks for that.