Archive for the 'Nature and global warming' category

A very nice set of camouflaged animals.

A Grey Cicada hides on pine bark in France

Source: Daily Mail.

When I look into the logs of my web site, I sometimes discover bizarre little gems. For example, I recently noticed that somebody reached my web site through a search engine looking for : “buy a giraffe“. I still wonder whether he or she was looking for the real animal or a poster or photo of the animal. I probably will never know (except if the guilty conscience of the poor guy leads to informing me).

It made me look on Google for the very same thing. And I was surprised to find that there is advice to buy a giraffe (a real one). The first tip is: Do you have enough room? For sure, I would not recommend the giraffe as pet if you live in a flat at the fifth floor…

Internet will always bring me surprises.

I published a few shots of lions. Portraits taken in the Masai Mara park (Kenya). My prefered is the following one:

Lionness - Copyright 2008, Yves Roumazeilles

If you click on the thumbnail image, you will enlarge it. And you may notice that the photographer (and its car) are appearing in the eye of the lion.

But there are several other images taken nearly at the same time on the original Big Cats web site. Yes! This is another of my web sites. Actually, YLoveBigCats.com is a separate location to publish information specifically about the big felines of the world (and some of the my photos of them).

Awesomely superb, “The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala” is an illustrated book (download in PDF) by James Bateman that you can find in Botanicus.org wbe site of the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

After about 10 days out of France, I am back from the Masai Mara National Reserve (in Kenya). I brought back about 30 GB of wildlife photos (around 1700-1800 images) to be sorted out in the coming days. You can expect series of published images here on a regular basis.

This little shark (goblin shark in English, Mitsukurina owstoni) lives in the deeps of the ocean, and has an extensible mouth. See it in action against a human diver (don’t worry, there is no blood and wounds).

Link to LiveLink

Autumn in the Utah, Zion National Park: A great location for photo and landscape photo lessons from Brett Higgins.

Unknown author.

A scientific study coming from Iceland suggest that in the recent years the minke whale population suddenly dropped from 45000 in 2001 to less than 15000 last year. This is a enormous change that is not yet explained for a small whale that was more or less protected by its smaller size (big whales bring bigger profits).

Source: Science Blogs.

In the spotlight: Sony Alpha 900 Canon EOS 5D Mk II Nikon D700 FX Download Nero for free

It is often believed that wide-ranging oceanic sharks are so fast and powerful that they are quite resilient when it comes to fishing pressure. Actually, this is quite the contrary. Most sharks are carnivorous and thus rely on the availability of a lot of animal food, they also tend to mature slowly (so all early catches tend to reduce the possibility of reproduction), they usually have a small number of offsprings.

However, this is not taken into account in fishing practices. Probably under the pressure of Asian countries booming markets and culture-related food habits (like the “shark fin soup”), sharks and rays are fished extensively out of any quotas or limitations. Nevertheless, their populations are depleting quickly. An international study, organised by the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG), shows that within the 21 species studied, the extinction rate “is ten to a hundred times greater than historic extinction rates“.

They also make sound proposals for how to manage the situation (like “establishing and enforcing science-based catch limits for sharks and rays” or “ensuring an end to shark finning (removing fins and discarding bodies at sea)“).

Source: IUCN Shark Specialist GrouP.

This is the question or the hope that we can have after the opening of a legal investigation in Japan. A public prosecutor announced on last 19th of May that he decided to explore the observed operations of sale of whale meat to restaurants.

Greenpeace actively participates and there are many people hoping this to be the first step toward a true prohibition of Japanese whaling (even for “scientific” reasons).

Source: NewScientist.

I recently noticed (in the ads appearing in my web site; some are quite good) the web site of the Jaguar Research Center. I went in October 2007 to Brazil, in Pantanal, at the heart of the Jaguar Research Center. So, I wanted to give a small feedback about this experience.

This is certainly the location where it is easier to find jaguars, these large felines from South America. If you want to see these very discreet animals, you’d better contact the Jaguar Research Center or one of the travel agents that can send you there (like Objectif Nature, my preferred French travel agent for photo-nature trips).

I have to admit that the jaguar being very shy and despite the high concentration of these big cats in Pantanal, it is somewhat difficult to find them: In October 2007, our photo group did not see it once in three days (even if the trackers and a boat of the supporting organisation saw it nearly every day).

All in all, it’s not so desperate even for a photographer like me who was really willing to catch a few fur spots on the digital sensor of my camera. Along with the flagship feline of the South American continent, this zone is a marvellous water paradise, with the Cuiaba, wide Brazilian river, and many calm locations to observe birds and other animals.

So, I heartily recommend the Jaguar Research Center and I will probably return to JRC -with the hope of finally meeting some free jaguars. And their web site is very nice.

A campaign to protect Earth and save energy by CLM BBDO.

A few top-quality images taken by James Pan. Felines, lovely big cats and other animals shot in perfect portraits.

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Feline teeth are their most prominent exterior feature. Since the prehistoric Smilodon (the smiling feline) and its gigantic canines, big cats use their impressive dental characteristics to hunt.

On the Laelaps web site, you will find a detaileld article on feline teeth, from yesterday to nowadays: What big teeth you have. Please, also notice the hunting videos (lions hunting elephant, lions hunting a giraffe).