They are gateways. Entrances to a realm as mysterious and fascinating as it is frightening. Countless tales have been told of the hosts of these passageways; countless more of those who have passed beyond. But little attention has been paid to the gateways themselves; the openings through which all become equal.

The time has come for that to change. For the gateways to be recognized; their beauty and their terror to be captured. Frozen in that moment of glory beyond which there is no return.

Welcome now to the realm of...

The Gaping Maws


Page Last Updated: 14 OCT 2007


Well, it's been quite a while since the last update, but let me assure everyone that I haven't stopped collecting and taking new pictures of animal maws. This update has just over 980 new pictures, bringing the total to approximately 3,950 pictures at 680 MB in size. As always, I would like to thank all of the people who have contributed their own pictures to place on this site, and I apologize to those who have been waiting a long time for this update to finally display them.

PLEASE NOTE: I would like to make it clear that the only images on this site which I have taken myself, are those in the Zoo Pictures folder. Do not ask me for permission to use any of the pictures that are not in this specific folder. This site is for entertainment purposes only and will never be used for making money or selling advertising space. If you are the owner of any pictures hosted here that you would like to have removed, please email me at the address below and I will take those photos down.

Because of the wide range of online and offline sources that these images were collected from, as well as the number of years over which I have been collecting them, there is no way for me to identify where the originals had come from. Wherever possible, I did try to maintain the original file name from where they were found. The most notable exceptions are instances where a generic name, such as LionYawn.jpg was used, and after finding a dozen such named pictures, I was forced to add numeric sequences to them.

All of the pictures are divided into categories, by animal types. This division includes: Bears, Big Cats, Birds, Canines, Felines (house cats), Hippos, Hooved Animals (horses, pigs, donkeys, etc), Primates, Reptiles & Amphibians, Seals/Sealions/Otters, Sharks & Whales, and Tigers.

The remaining collections include: Other (anything not in the above categories), WebCams (images captured off of webcams) and ZooPics (my personal collection of photos I have taken myself while visiting any of numerous zoos).

The thumbnails for each section are initially arranged by the date on which they had been uploaded to this site. They are then sub-sorted alphabetically by filename, with no intent to show any favoritism for one picture over another.

Many of the pictures are side-views or partially open jaws. Originally, I was not going to include these here, but a few people have voiced an interest in them. Also, they may be seen as useful for any artists out there who are looking for just the right pose, for that special picture they wish to create.

It is my goal to have the most complete collection of gaping animal maws that anyone can have and will continue to add new updates as enough new pictures are acquired to make the process of updating worth while.

If there are any problems with any of the links, you can contact me at Rodent's email.

Also, if anyone wishes to have pictures of their own added to this collection, please contact me at the above email before just sending them. Any pictures that are sent will be divided up into the various categories on the page. If you wish to have your pictures identified as yours, it is recommended that you include copyright text or a watermark of some type on the images themselves.

Finally... a note on hotlinking to the images on this site. Unfortunately, I had to set it up so that hotlinks could not be made to the pictures posted here. This was not because I frown upon sharing the pictures with others, but because when it was enabled, it was rapidly eating away at my monthly bandwidth limit, and causing the page to be locked for upwards of a week, until the new month would begin. I apologize to all those who wish to share the photos here on message boards and forums for this requirement.

And now... what you're here for.

Click to Enter the Gaping Maws gallery


Selected as the Humor and the Unusual Site of the Week on February 16, 2004 by Seven Wonders.