Being Valentine’s Day, I figured it only appropriate to post a little animal love. These two Japanese macaques were enjoying a bit of cuddle time while the rest of the monkeys were relaxing in the hot springs up in the mountains near Nagano Japan.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 175mm) ISO 200, f/4.5 at 1/100th of a second
This one goes out to another little snow monkey friend of mine named Luke who was born last week. Also known as a Japanese macaque, this little guy was relaxing in the hot water springs near Nagano in Japan.
With all the devastation we’ve been seeing and reading about in Japan, I had been wondering about the snow monkeys that I visited two springs ago up near Nagano. Being well away from the coast and up in the mountains, I figured the tsunami wouldn’t have been a factor, but the earthquake did hit the Nagano area, and regions of high thermal activity are always a concern. Thankfully, the live cam that sits above the Jigokudani hot spring (plus a quick google search) indicates that life is going on as usual for the monkeys.
This little guy was defending his slushy turf and doing a pretty good job of it. We were in Japan in late March and things were definitely starting to melt up at Jigokudani Hotsprings near Nagano. Other than humans, Japanese macaques are the most northerly living primates (but I think I already mentioned that in a previous post.)
I’d like to say that I endured great hardship on a trek into the Japanese wilderness to get shots of snow monkeys, but the fact is, Japenese macaques are one of the more easily photographed primates on the planet. At least at Jigokudani Springs near Nagano — an easy two hour journey by bullet train from Tokyo. Every day throughout the year, the monkeys come down from the mountainsides to soak in the springs. Wide angle shots are easy as the monkeys groom, fight, eat and play just a feet away.