The oryx is a mysterious creature, some believing that it is the antelope on which the unicorn is based. The oryx, of course, has two straight horns, rather than just one, but I can see where the comparison makes sense.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/13th of a second
This giant river otter is obviously up to something that he doesn’t want you to know about. What sort of illicit activity was going on over there by the bank of the river, I have no idea. What I do know is that this was in the Pantanal of Brazil, and that giant river otters are big. Very big. They can be six feet in length and weigh up to 70 pounds. And from the look of this guy, they really would prefer that you don’t know anything more about them.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/320th of a second
Things started normal enough…
… but perhaps because she seemed more interested in taking a sip of water than with what was going on behind her…
…she ended up with an unceremonious flipper to the face on the dismount. We encountered these two questionable love-birds in an inland cove on the island of Fernandina in the Galapagos Islands.
Top photo: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 80mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/100th of a second
Middle photo: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 110mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second
Bottom photo: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 140mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/125 of a second
When three cheetah brothers gave chase on this herd of zebras, Karen couldn’t look because she felt so bad for the zebras. When the chase failed, she immediately felt bad for the three cheetahs, who missed out on their meal. Thus is life on the plains of Kenya.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/500th of a second
I usually don’t like to post photos that show the hand of man, but every now and again I make an exception. Thus is the case today with these two yin and yang hummingbirds. They are both velvet-purple coronets and they were hanging around a feeder near our cloud forest lodge in Ecuador, along with several other species of hummingbird.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 350mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash
When I first saw this group of bearded piglets in Borneo, they ran into the forest to be closer to the safety of their mother. Then, one by one, they crept back toward me, seemingly fascinated with the clicking of my camera. Eventually, this little guy went snout to glass. I posted a similar photo a few years back, but in this one, the young pig is even closer to my wide angle lens. Bearded pigs live amongst orangutans in the rain forest, following closely behind them to forage for their left over scraps of food. They get their name thanks to the impressive beards worn by adults. Here’s a shot of a full grown bearded pig that I previously posted.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/400th of a second
This is another lemur that goes by many names — although all are simple variations on appearance — the white-headed lemur, white-headed brown lemur, white-fronted brown lemur and white-fronted lemur. They live within a rather small range in northeastern Madagascar. This one was spotted on the island of Nosy Mangabe, just off the coast of the mainland. I was camping on the island for a few nights and woke one morning to find several males and females of the species resting in a tree just a few feet from my tent. I liked the way that this particular male was curled up in his tail (the males have the characteristic white heads, while the females have a grey head).
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon SB-800 flash
I’ve posted a few photos of this bobcat before, but none of the wink that it gave me when it first spotted me down on the ground taking its picture. The encountere happened at a place called the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary — a small patch of wilderness just two miles from the hotel I was staying at in downtown Irvine, California.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/400th of a second
I had a request for another polar bear today and seeing as it’s about as cold in Brooklyn right now as it was when I was taking photographs up on the subarctic tundra, well, it seemed appropriate. Here’s a male polar bear, standing up to get a better view across the frozen Hudson Bay. Sure, they’re among the most fierce predators on earth, but somehow polar bears just don’t look quite as ferocious when on two legs like this as opposed to all four. Instead they can look more like Peter Griffin or Homer Simpson.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 290mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/640th of a second
This little guy has many names — the swamp wallaby, the black wallaby, fern wallaby, black pademelon, and my personal favorites, the black stinker, or simply, the stinker. it’s a small macropod species, usually solitary and nocturnal. Lucky for the swamp wallaby — and probably a reason why it is also called the stinker — the Aboriginal people of Australia find it to be inedible due to its smell and taste after cooking. But seriously, who in their right mind could eat this little guy.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/2.8 at 1/40th of a second