There are fifteen different species of marmot in the world. This one is a hoary marmot and it is native to the Pacific northwest. I was hiking in Rainier National Park in Washington when I came across a bunch of these guys scattered throughout the alpine wildflowers. Enjoy the long weekend. I’m off to Colorado and will be back on Tuesday — hopefully with some new creatures to share.
The male impala were in their rut when we were in Kenya in November. The males were chasing each other all over the place, vying for mating rights with the females. This guy seemed to be getting the best of  his competition, running down any challengers.
This one is from my trip to Madagascar back in 2007. Of all the lemurs (53 different species depending upon who’s doing the counting) the ring-tailed is perhaps the best known. They’re latin name is Lemur Catta — appropriate because they meow somewhat like a cat. This one was either waving to say hello, or telling me to get the camera out of her face.
I was up in Bronxville, New York this past weekend at a house party and saw a few black squirrels running around in the back yard. It reminded me of the ones that I used to get at my house in Michigan, including this guy here peeking out of a hole in a tree. Black squirrels are actually a melanistic subgroup of the eastern grey squirrel that carry a mutant black pigment gene. They are common in the Midwestern United States, Ontario, Quebec and parts of the Northeastern United States and Britain.  One theory suggests that they have thrived in these colder areas because their dark fur gives them the advantage of heat retention over grey colored squirrels.
I spent quite a bit of time habituating this nine-banded armadillo on Merritt Island in Florida. Eventually it became comfortable enough with my presence to go about its business of digging frantically for grubs, termites, ants and other insects. Armadillos have very poor eyesight, but a great sense of smell and can detect prey through 8 inches of soil. If you look close, you can see the rotted bits of wood that the armadillo is tossing aside as it digs.
I captured this shot early one morning in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. The pronghorn was standing so still that I was able to take several exposures and then blend them together to hold all the detail in the sky while still exposing for the foreground.
This is an African wild dog. Or, if you prefer, an African hunting dog. Or a Cape hunting dog. Or a painted dog. Or a painted wolf. Or a painted hunting dog. Or a spotted dog. Or an ornate wolf. It’s called all these things. It’s also in trouble in Africa and listed as endangered due to human overpopulation, habitat loss and predator control killing. I was lucky enough to find this guy and the rest of his pack of about twelve or so in the Linyanti Swamp area of Botswana.
This one is from a trip to Maine a few years back. I was at Baxter State Park when I saw this moose cow in the middle of Sandy Stream Pond. Moose like the nutrient rich vegetation that sits on the bottom of the pond. She was out there for what seemed like an hour, grazing under water and allowing me to get many shots.
During the day, hippos rarely leave the water, but at night they typically sleep on land. They are very susceptible to sunburn and as soon as the sun starts to get hot, they get back in the water. This was first thing in the morning when the sun just broke the horizon and several hippos were out foraging on the plains of the Masai Mara in Kenya. In the background, a few buffalo keep a close watch on their often cantankerous neighbors.
Agouti’s are native to Central America and resemble guinea pigs, but they are larger and with longer legs. This one was photographed early one morning in Pavones, Costa Rica. They are fairly common in rain forests and I saw quite a few while hiking throughout several areas of Costa Rica.