Greg du Toit of South Africa is the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 with Essence of Elephants, while 14-year-old Udayan Rao Pawar of India is the young Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his photo Mother's little headful.
Greg's photo of African elephants was taken at a waterhole in Botswana. What looks like a huge elephant in the front is actually a baby that walked in front of the camera just as Greg took the photo. This is a classic photobomb; well played, little elephant!
The gharial is a kind of crocodile that lives in India which can grow to 6 m long. Udayan's photo of an adult with a collection of babies perched on its head is adorable, but also a bit sad, because there aren't many gharials left in the wild.
Those babies might not have a future.
The gharial has been classified as critically endangered, which means that it faces "an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild". There are only about 200 adult gharials left and many of those are in the Chambal river where Udayan took his photo.
"The Chambal River is the gharial’s last stronghold," said Udayan, "but is threatened by illegal sand-mining and fishing."
But there may be hope.
This photo will bring worldwide attention to gharials and the problems they face. Thanks to Udayan, it is likely that more effort will be put into protecting them, and the future for those cute little guys with the very sharp teeth might not be so bad after all.
Wild links
See a slideshow of some of the winning photos at the BBC or see all the winners at the Natural History Museum.
Impress your friends with fun African elephant facts from National Geographic.
Most people have never even heard of a gharial. Become an expert by visiting the Smithsonian Institute.
Measure out 6 m (six big steps) and then imagine what you would do if you met a gharial up close.
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| © Greg du Toit. Click here to see a bigger version at the Natural History Museum website. |
Photobomb: (verb)- to drop in a photo unexpectedly...to hop in a picture right before it is taken. Urban Dictionary
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| © Udayan Rao Pawar. Click here to see a bigger version at the Natural History Museum website. |
Those babies might not have a future.
The gharial has been classified as critically endangered, which means that it faces "an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild". There are only about 200 adult gharials left and many of those are in the Chambal river where Udayan took his photo.
"The Chambal River is the gharial’s last stronghold," said Udayan, "but is threatened by illegal sand-mining and fishing."
But there may be hope.
This photo will bring worldwide attention to gharials and the problems they face. Thanks to Udayan, it is likely that more effort will be put into protecting them, and the future for those cute little guys with the very sharp teeth might not be so bad after all.
Wild links
See a slideshow of some of the winning photos at the BBC or see all the winners at the Natural History Museum.
Impress your friends with fun African elephant facts from National Geographic.
Most people have never even heard of a gharial. Become an expert by visiting the Smithsonian Institute.
Measure out 6 m (six big steps) and then imagine what you would do if you met a gharial up close.
I went to see these pictures last week. They are amazing! I really liked the one of the whaleshark taken from below
ReplyDeleteOoh, I am jealous. I don't think we'll be getting the exhibition in Melbourne. Will probably have to travel to Canberra, or London.
ReplyDeleteThis is the photo: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/wpy/gallery/2013/images/-nature-in-black-and-white/4715/giant-with-sunbeams.html