WCS In Focus

Posted on October 4, 2012 by admin

C E L E B R A T I O N S

Make forever memories by taking photos of your kids with animals at our zoos. Instead of posing your family and asking them to look at the camera, wait for a moment of action, like our Central Park Zoo’s polar bear splashdown, and the picture makes itself.

This shot is from our WCS Photo Collection from more than a decade ago taken by Dennis DeMello, my predecessor as WCS Staff Photographer.

To our subjects—Happy 18th Birthday, Megan, and Happy World Animal Day, Gus, the polar bear!

Posted on October 3, 2012 by admin

T R E E C L I M B I N G L I O N

Tree-climbing lions are rare, but there are a few that like to rise to the occasion in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.

Wildlife Conservation Society researchers call this particular lioness “Questionable Female.”

What a name, I thought, but it is actually based on some unknown geography. She seems to have come from a pride outside the WCS study area.

The WCS conservationists theorize that these lions like to climb to cooler air and away from the attacking tsetse flies that hang out below.

Respecting space in the wilds of Africa is critical. I stayed in the land rover and used a long lens so Questionable Female remained calm in her cradle of branches.

Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS

Posted on October 2, 2012 by admin

F R O G I N F A L L

It’s autumn at the Bronx Zoo. This Surinam horned frog celebrates in full fall fashion at the World of Reptiles nearly blending into its surroundings. Frogs have unique and colorful patterning that help hide them from predators in nature.

Photograph frogs and other reptiles during 2 pm animal enrichment at the Bronx Zoo’s annual Boo at the Zoo event this weekend.

Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS

Posted on October 1, 2012 by admin

E A T Y O U R V E G E T A B L E S

October 1 is World Vegetarian Day, the beginning of a month of awareness on eating more veggies. Some of the most ample mammals, like hippos, are big plant-eaters, or herbivores, and like a good salad to celebrate any occasion.

An historic shot from our WCS Photo Collection shows Peter, a hippo that lived at the Bronx Zoo in the middle of the last century, as he takes the “cake,” made from garden vegetables.

Credit: Wildlife Conservation Society

Source: worldvegetarianday.org, lexar – julie larsen maher

Posted on September 30, 2012 by admin

B I R D S F L Y — S O C A N F O O T B A L L P L A Y E R S

When I’m not at the zoo or in the field, I practice photography at local sporting events.

Observing wildlife before taking pictures is a must to learn their behaviors. The same goes for sports. I go to a number of games and watch the plays making it easier to follow them when I have my camera.

Many things happen at ground level in football, but I found really good action well above it by these high-flying athletes. Photographing things in the air, like birds or high school football players, can be helped along with a vibration reduction lens, in this case, and Nikkor 80-400mm VR.

Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher

Posted on September 28, 2012 by admin

S K U N K S P O T T E D A T T H E M O U S E H O U S E

This spotted skunk can be seen at the Bronx Zoo’s Mouse House.

Aptly named Rose, she is most active when it is dark—crawling through hollow logs and into burrows.

How to make a great picture with little or no light? Use a higher ISO setting and a lens with vibration reduction.

Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS

Source: Bronx Zoo and Nikon

Posted on September 27, 2012 by admin

P R I M A T E S I N P E R I L

Gorillas, all kinds, are in peril. Poaching and diseases like Ebola have decimated their numbers, even in protected areas. Their status is critically endangered. The Wildlife Conservation Society is working to make a difference by encouraging the renewal of the Save Vanishing Species stamp.

I am lucky to have western lowland gorillas as my neighbors at the Bronx Zoo. Ernie, one of our silverbacks, is a fine photo subject. He lives with his group of females at the Congo Gorilla Forest.

Standing at an angle to the exhibit glass while taking pictures helps to eliminate glare and reflections. (Yes, there is glass between Ernie and me!)

Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS

Sources: WCS and IUCN Red List

Posted on September 26, 2012 by admin

C L I M A T E C H A N G E A T 1 6, 0 0 0′

In the high Andes of Bolivia, glaciers are receding at a rapid pace. Farmers in the Apolobamba protected area are worried that a drier climate increases competition for resources among domestic animals, wildlife, and the people themselves.

The Wildlife Conservation Society works on the ground with communities that depend on natural resources to help them find mutually beneficial solutions to relieve the stress on fragile ecosystems.

While on this field assignment in Bolivia, I photographed the farmer with a 24-70 mm lens—a wide-angle zoom that captures both the foreground subject and the harsh landscape at 16,000′.

Source: WCS

Posted on September 25, 2012 by admin

I N T I M E F O R T A Z O

Sea Otter Awareness Week seems a good time to get out Tazo, the northern sea otter’s, baby pictures. Tazo was orphaned from his mother during a storm at a very young age and found his new home at the New York Aquarium (NYA) via the Alaska Sea Life Center in 2010. Tazo was nursed back to health by surrogate keeper moms at NYA.

Part of my job is to photograph the births and lives of our wildlife. I took this photo of Tazo when he was a curious pup just a few months old. I hope that bringing out this adorable image from the archives will help the otter cause—one that has been clouded by climate change.

The New York Times made time for Tazo this week, too.

Sources: New York Aquarium, New York Times

Posted on September 24, 2012 by admin

F R O M T H E F O R E S T ‘ S E D G E

On a Wildlife Conservation Society field trip to Budongo Forest in Uganda, I watched a female chimpanzee make her way through the treetops with her infant securely attached —like a backpack.

Human settlement, logging, poaching, and habitat fragmentation mean the future for chimps is uncertain. At least half the chimps in this forest suffer from snare wounds left by the rusty wire traps set for bush meat. I wonder if one day this youngster will add to that number?

Source: Wildlife Conservation Society