This is a red-bellied lemur, photographed in Ranomafana National Park in the east central region of Madagascar. These lemurs are considered vulnerable due to diminishing habitat (as are all lemurs). In this case, it’s mostly due to slash and burn farming. The male and female of the species are fairly similar in appearance, although the male has a more pronounced teardrop-shaped patch of white beneath the eyes.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 200, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon SB-800 flash

First off, sorry for the inadvertent post yesterday afternoon. I’ve been working on re-skinning my website and something accidentally sent out a rogue email. As you can see, I have a new look, featuring a ring tailed lemur logo. It’s tough to say what my favorite animal is. Usually it’s whatever I’m photographing next. That being said, I’ve always had a bit of an extra fondness for lemurs and Madagascar in general, so I figured why not. The site is still a work in progress and will probably change several times over the next few weeks. For now, I’m going with this. If you click on the logo and go to the homepage, you’ll see that my slideshow is now fullscreen in your browser. This definitely shows off the photos better if you have a large screen, but does cause some cropping problems on mobile devices and browser windows that aren’t to the approximate dimensions of the image. For now, it’s a good compromise. Let me know what you think. And as I’ve been doing for the past month or so, click on the photo of the day image for a full size view.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 100, f/10 at 1/80th of a second

This is the fantastic leaf tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus), also known as the satanic leaf tailed gecko. I kind of think the latter name is a bit more apropos. Of course, fantastic or satanic, the “leaf tailed” part of the name is quite evident in this photo. We met in Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park late one evening.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (with Canon 500D close up filter) ISO 200, f/22 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units

It’s obvious, of course, where the ring tailed lemur gets its name. In this shot that tail is on display (along with a few other parts) in all its bushy glory. Some day I hope to get back to southern Madagascar to visit these amazing primates once again.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 200, f/2.8 at 1/40th of a second

Like many of the animals on Madagascar, tomato frogs are endemic to the island nation. This is a male and a female — the female being the large red beast on the right. Obviously, tomato frogs get their name from the females’ appearance. Males are much smaller and more yellowish brown in color. When captured, the tomato frog will release a gummy toxin that closes up the would-be predator’s eyes and mouth and causes it to release its grip. The poison will not kill a human but can cause an allergic reaction. I was sure to photograph only and not touch.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 20mm) ISO 100, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units

One thing about lemurs — they can really jump. This is a common brown lemur that I photographed in the town of Perinet in Madagascar. I was using my usual two-flash set up on a bracket, only this time with my wide angle zoom. The lemurs were very habituated so I could get really close.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 20mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units

Black and white ruffed lemurs are probably the second most well known behind the ring tailed lemurs. They also happens to be the most mischievous (at least as far as I could tell). This one was checking me out as I took a few wide angle shots from directly below. I was using my backup camera with its pop up flash so the lighting isn’t ideal, but it works well enough.
Nikon D40x with Nikkor 18-55mm lens (at 22mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/60th of a second

The white footed sportive lemur is just one of the many species of lemur in Madagascar that are nocturnal. Like all lemurs, they are endangered. In the case of the white footed sportive lemurs, habitat loss due to agriculture and charcoal production are the main problems. Fun fact about these lemurs — they are coprophagous, meaning that they consume and reediest their own feces to help breakdown the cellulose in their food (their diet consists almost entirely of leaves).
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 185mm) ISO 200, f/4.5 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units

Some of you might remember a close up photo of this guy that I posted several years ago. For this shot, I backed up a bit to show the flowers that the juvenile Madagascar reed frog was hiding in. When little (and I mean little — this frog was less than an inch in length) Madagascar reed frogs are completely yellow, but as they age, their backs turns light blue.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 86mm) ISO 100, f/22 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units

This is a paradise flycatcher. The males of the species have very long tails. As the name suggests, they are insectivorous — mainly catching their prey while in flight. I photographed this one on the island of Nosy Mangabe off the east coast of Madagascar. The background is a bit out of focus and motion blurred, but you can see that the bird is perched on a branch over a small waterfall.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 185mm) ISO 400, f/2.8 at 1/60th of a second, two SB-800 strobes