Diademed Sifaka
This lemur is called a diademed sifaka and it was photographed in central Madagascar near the town of Perinet. I was on an island in the middle of a large lake where lemurs rescued from poachers, injury and habitat loss roam freely. They are quite habituated to people and I was able to lay on my back and photograph this one with a wide angle lens as he hung just above me. There are several other species of lemur on the island, including red fronted brown lemurs, common brown lemurs, black and white ruffed lemurs and bamboo lemurs. This was the only diademed sifaka on the island but I saw and photographed a few more in the surrounding national park. With their deep red eyes and golden and black coats they really are one of the more interesting looking creatures in a country of interesting looking creatures.
May is horseshoe crab mating season and the greatest congregation of them in the world is in the Delaware Bay. Each high tide brings the crabs to shore where they lay their eggs. They peak during full moons but are also active during a new moon (which was the case when I took this photo). It also helped that dead high tide was just after sunset making it the perfect time to get slow exposure photos. They are actually not even crabs but more closely related to spiders and scorpions and are one of the oldest living creatures on earth, predating both dinosaurs and birds by about 150 million years.
