Sometimes they let you get close. And when they do, why not take advantage. This was a very friendly Bornean white-bearded gibbon that I met in Indonesia. He hung around the welcome center of Tanjung Puting National Park and was obviously very accustomed to people.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 290mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/80th of a second
I’ve posted a few shots of these bearded piglets before. Here’s another view. I had been shooting them with a longer lens and intrigued by the sound of the shutter, they came closer to investigate. This gave me an opportunity to pull out my wide angle. We were in Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/640th of a second
Orangutans are more swingers than they are jumpers. But it sure is impressive to see them swing from one tree to another, using the relative strength of each branch to their advantage. Of course, it helps when even their feet are really like two more hands. Here a young orangutan swings upside down through Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesian Borneo.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 150mm) ISO 800, f/2.8 at 1/640th of a second
The Bornean white-bearded gibbon is a different species from the white-handed gibbons that I saw in Thailand. This one, also known as the Bornean agile gibbon or southern gibbon, was photographed on my trip to Indonesia back in 2009. He was hanging around a troop of orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park and was rather habituated to the presence of people in the area.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/250th of a second
It’s been a few years since I’ve posted one of these beauties — truly one of the most interesting looking, shall we say, creatures on the planet. At least the female is spared the potato looking nose. I saw quite a few of these guys hanging out in trees along river banks in Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo, Indonesia.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/125th of a second
The Asian elephant is smaller than the African elephant. Still, at 4 tons and 21 feet long, they aren’t exactly petite. This individual was a working elephant, used by the mahouts in Sumatra, Indonesia, as a means of transportation through the jungle. I was able to photograph them while they were playing in the river and getting one of their daily baths.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 25mm) ISO 400, f/11 at 1/400th of a second
This Asian elephant was enjoying a mid-day dip in a river near Tangkahan National Park in Sumatra. These elephants are the largest land mammals in southeast Asia, although still not quite as big as the African bush elephants.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second
It’s been awhile since I posted an orangutan, so here’s a double shot of two of them — a mother and her baby from Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesia. Both photos were shot wide angle at 17mm (I just backed up a bit for the first) so you can see how comfortable they were with my presence.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/250th of a second
I’ve posted a few shots of this guy before, sometimes referred to as the Sulawesi dwarf cuscus and sometimes the small Sulawesi cuscus. The point is, it’s small, it’s a cuscus and it’s from Sulawesi. This photo shows the opposable claws — the three on the left that oppose the two on the right and enable the cuscus a firm grip while climbing trees.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/50th of a second
Ugly, yes. Charming, definitely. But you’ll have to take my word on the charming part. These guys are sort of the garbage collectors of the rainforest. They follow orangutans around and collect the food scraps that the red ape’s toss aside. If was fun to watch them, in all their ungainly charisma, as they fumbled their way through the forest. And that beard. Just spectacular.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 190mm) ISO 800, f/2.8 at 1/200th of a second