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Photos: photoblog-wildlife
Best of 2012 - Voracious insect-killing machine in Borneo (12/20/2012) Treefrog in the Borneo rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. While most people think of frogs as harmless, to their prey they are highly-effective killing machines. This treefrog, like virtually all other frogs, is carnivorous, feeding on arthropods in the rainforest of Borneo. I haven't yet identified the species — if anyone recognizes it, please let me know in the comments. Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Voracious insect-killing machine in Borneo Best of 2012 - Draco lizard hanging on a twig  (12/18/2012) Draco lizard at night in Sabah, Malaysia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. Draco lizard at night in Sabah, Malaysia. Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Draco lizard hanging on a twig Best of 2012 - Can you find the camouflaged frog?  (12/15/2012) Stream frog on Nosy Mangabe. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a well-camouflaged frog on Nosy Mangabe, an island in the Bay on Antongil, Madagascar. Do you know the species? Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Can you find the camouflaged frog? Best of 2012 - Mating frogs in the Borneo rainforest  (12/14/2012) Mating frogs in the Borneo rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. These frogs were in amplexus on the forest floor near the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. I haven't identified the species. Any ideas? Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Mating frogs in the Borneo rainforest Best of 2012 - Backlit forest dragon in Borneo  (12/13/2012) Backlit forest dragon in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a forest dragon taken on a night hike at MESCOT on the Kinabatangan River. Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Backlit forest dragon in Borneo Best of 2012 - a cryptic gecko in Madagascar  (12/11/2012) Uroplatus gecko in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. Continue reading: Best of 2012 - a cryptic gecko in Madagascar Best of 2012 - Male crowned lemur in Madagascar  (12/09/2012) Crowned lemur in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a male crowned lemur in Madagascar's Ankarana Special Reserve. Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Male crowned lemur in Madagascar Best of 2012 - Giant day gecko in Madagascar  (12/06/2012) Giant day gecko in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a Giant Madagascar day gecko (Phelsuma madagascariensis) in Ankarana Special Reserve in northern Madagascar. The Giant day gecko is found widely in Madagascar. It is also commonly kept in the pet trade. Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Giant day gecko in Madagascar Best of 2012 - Emerging cicada in Java  (12/05/2012) Emerging cicada in Java. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a cicada emerging from its nymph skin on Peucang Island, off the western tip of Java, Indonesia. Taken during a trip with the Rhino Patrol Unit to Ujung Kulon National Park in search of signs of the Javan rhino Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Emerging cicada in Java Best of 2012 - Female black lemur in Madagascar  (12/04/2012) Female black lemur on Nosy Komba, an island off northern Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a Female black lemur on Nosy Komba, an island off northern Madagascar. Today black lemurs area big draw for tourists to visit Nosy Komba, which lies between the island tourist hub of Nosy Be and mainland Madagascar. Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Female black lemur in Madagascar Best of 2012 - Borneo frog  (12/03/2012) Tree frog in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a tree frog I photographed in Danum Valley in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Does anyone recognize the species? Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Borneo frog Best of 2012 - Cinnamon Roller in Madagascar  (12/02/2012) Cinnamon Roller (Eurystomus glaucurus). Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during the course of my reporting travels. This is a Cinnamon Roller in Ankarafantsika National Park. These birds are very common in the camp ground at the entrance of the park. They are quite vocal. Continue reading: Best of 2012 - Cinnamon Roller in Madagascar The minuscule leaf chameleon in Madagascar  (11/02/2012) Leaf chameleon (Brookesia species) in the hand of a forest guide on the Masoala Peninsula, Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler This is a full grown chameleon. Brookesia are among the smallest lizards on the planet. Continue reading: The minuscule leaf chameleon in Madagascar The Fossa, Madagascar's largest carnivore  (11/01/2012) A captive fossa near Andasibe, Madagascar. The fossa is Madagascar's largest carnivore. While it looks like a cross between a puma and a dog, the fossa is actually related to the mongoose. It is one of the few animals in Madagascar that hunts lemurs. Continue reading: The Fossa, Madagascar's largest carnivore Gorgeous Parson's chameleon  (10/31/2012) Parson's chameleon near Analamazoatra Reserve. Continue reading: Gorgeous Parson's chameleon Ankarana Sportive Lemur in Madagascar  (10/30/2012) Ankarana Sportive Lemur (Lepilemur ankaranensis) in Ankarana, Madagascar. I just returned from 3+ weeks in Madagascar where I was looking into the illegal rosewood trade and other stories. I'll be posting a picture a day for the couple of weeks as a preview to the set that will eventually be online. Continue reading: Ankarana Sportive Lemur in Madagascar Jaguar skull  (10/15/2012) Jaguar skull in Guyana. Jaguars are the biggest cat in the Americas. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. Continue reading: Jaguar skull A common sight: the grey squirrel  (10/09/2012) For those living in North America, this animal is one of the most commonly sighted: the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). It is also an invasive species in Britain, Ireland, Italy, and South Africa. Animal photographed in northern Minnestoa. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. Continue reading: A common sight: the grey squirrel Baby sea turtle headed out to sea  (09/22/2012) Baby Olive ridley sea turtle headed out to sea in Costa Rica. Between natural predators and hazards, baby sea turtles face steep odds — only one in 5,000-10,000 survive to adulthood. These odds are made worse by threats from humans: coastal development, fishing nets, garbage, pollution, and domesticated animals, to name a few. Continue reading: Baby sea turtle headed out to sea The Borugo, a rodent of unusual size from South America  (09/20/2012) Borugo in Colombia. The Borugo or Mountain Paca is a large seed-eating rodent found in the montane forests of South America. It is commonly hunted for its meat. Continue reading: The Borugo, a rodent of unusual size from South America Tree-climbing lion of Uganda  (09/18/2012) Tree-climbing lion of Uganda. The lions of Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda spend an unusual amount of time in trees. It's unclear why they exhibit this behavior, but the park is now famous for its 'tree-climbing lions'. Continue reading: Tree-climbing lion of Uganda Red Panda Day  (09/15/2012) Red panda. Today is International Red Panda Day, which aims help to raise awareness about red pandas. Dozens of zoos around the world are participating in this year's event. This Red Panda Day the Red Panda Network is working to mobilize support for the Red Panda Network Community Conservation Resource Center in Nepal. "The goal of the Center is to educate visitors on the value of their local natural resources and the unique endangered species that call the region home, focusing on red panda," according to the Red Panda Network. "It hopes to be a demonstration site for innovative conservation technology that local villagers can implement in their own villages and homes." Continue reading: Red Panda Day African elephant in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park  (09/14/2012) African elephant. An African elephant in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park. This elephant was blocking the road so we waited about 20 minutes until it went on its way. Continue reading: African elephant in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park Collared Puffbird in the place with the world's highest biodiversity  (09/07/2010) Collared Puffbird (Bucco capensis) Continue reading: Collared Puffbird in the place with the world's highest biodiversity Peeking macaque  (08/31/2010) Fruit stuffed in its mouth, this long-tailed macaque peeks at the photographer from a rooftop in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Continue reading: Peeking macaque Gecko meet insect  (08/30/2010) The giant leaf tailed gecko of Madagascar, Uroplatus fimbriatus, hangs out above a flying insect. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Continue reading: Gecko meet insect Micro frog discovered in Borneo  (08/26/2010) A new species of miniature frog was discovered in Borneo. Microhyla nepenthicola, shown here on the tip of a pencil, is about the size of a pea. Continue reading: Micro frog discovered in Borneo Frog shadow in New Guinea  (08/26/2010) Frog near Manokwari in West Papua, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler in August 2010 Continue reading: Frog shadow in New Guinea Hanging out  (08/19/2010) Bats hang out in a limestone cave in Malaysia's Taman Negara National Park. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler, 2006. Continue reading: Hanging out Red, magenta, orange, and yellow mystery insect from New Guinea  (08/16/2010) Katydid nymph in West Papua, on the island of New Guinea. Photo by Rhett A. Butler, August 2010. Continue reading: Red, magenta, orange, and yellow mystery insect from New Guinea Hunting endangers even the most untouched regions of the Amazon  (08/12/2010) Hunters orphaned this baby giant anteater. Photo courtesy by Paul Rosolie. There are places in the Amazon that remain almost untouched by any kind of development. Animals here, according to modern day explorer and guide Paul Rosolie, survive in their natural abundance. They also act differently: jaguars will sun themselves in plain site and peccaries will make as much noise as they please, showing little fear of human. Yet, even these last truly wild places are coming under increasing pressure by hunters seeking to fill a growing market for bushmeat, impacting wild populations and shifting animals' behavior. Continue reading: Hunting endangers even the most untouched regions of the Amazon Eaten to endangerment: the giant forest snail  (08/10/2010) The giant tropical land snail Archachatina bicarinata. Photo courtesy of Martin Dallimer. The newest subject of our Forgotten Species series, Archachatina bicarinata is endemic to the islands of Sao Tome and Principe off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. The species has likely undergone a significant decline due to overharvesting for food says researchers Martin Dallimer. Regulations on the snail trade need to be put in place if this species is not to vanish. Continue reading: Eaten to endangerment: the giant forest snail The tiger longwing  (08/09/2010) A beautiful tiger longwing butterfly (Heliconius hecale) in Tayrona National Park in Colombia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler, 2010. First described in 1776, the species is found from Central America down through much of the Amazon rainforest. Continue reading: The tiger longwing Jaguar skull (08/08/2010) The skull of America’s biggest cat in Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development in Guyana. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. The jaguar (Panthera onca) is classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN Red List. The species is suffering from habitat loss and persecution. Continue reading: Jaguar skull Compounding threats--not just palm oil--put orangutans at risk  (08/06/2010) A female Sumatran orangutan in Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia. Photo taken by Rhett A. Butler in May 2010. While palm oil gets most of the press coverage, orangutans face a variety of threats, including hunting by rural populations, says orangutan expert Erik Meijaard in an exclusive interview with mongabay.com. Continue reading: Compounding threats--not just palm oil--put orangutans at risk Stunning blue and turquoise beetle in New Guinea  (08/04/2010) The stunning blue and turquoise Eupholus bennetti weevil in West Papua (Indonesia) on the island of New Guinea. Continue reading: Stunning blue and turquoise beetle in New Guinea Cheetah and African wild dogs go extinct in Cameroon  (08/03/2010) A cheetah rests on a termite mound in Kenya. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. A three year study has found that cheetahs and African wild dogs have vanished from Cameroon. In addition the nation's other big carnivores are in trouble in the central-west African nation. Numerous studies have shown that the loss of top predators results in changes across ecosystems, including population explosion of some herbivores, extinctions down the food chain, shifts in plant communities, and a general loss in overall biodiversity. Continue reading: Cheetah and African wild dogs go extinct in Cameroon An acrobatic chacma baboon  (07/28/2010) We watched this wily gray-footed chacma baboon (Papio ursinus griseipes) for a good fifteen minutes as it posed for us in the Okavango Delta. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs, 2009. Continue reading: An acrobatic chacma baboon Unidentified orb spider hangs out in Colombia  (07/27/2010) An unidentified orb spider in Colombia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler, 2010. If you have any information on this orb spider species please contact me. Continue reading: Unidentified orb spider hangs out in Colombia Planned road to sever Serengeti  (07/25/2010) African buffalo at sunset in the Maasai Mara, the Kenyan side of the world famous Serengeti plains. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. A planned road in Tanzania threatens to cut through Serengeti National Park, the southern end of one of Africa's greatest spectacles. While the government says the road will not impact wildlife, world-renowned conservationist Richard Leakey argues that the road will eventually 'kill the migration' of wildebeest and other animals that powers the savanna's ecosystem every year. The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has proposed two alternate road routes to save the Serengeti. Continue reading: Planned road to sever Serengeti Unidentified hornbill in Sumatra  (07/22/2010) An unidentified hornbill poses in Sumatra. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler, 2010. Continue reading: Unidentified hornbill in Sumatra Infant crested black macaque  (07/20/2010) An infant crested black macaque (Macaca nigra). Photo by: Rhett A. Butler, 2010. Endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the crested black macaque is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. The primate is threatened by habitat loss and hunting for bushmeat. Continue reading: Infant crested black macaque The surprisingly crafty margay  (07/19/2010) The small wild cat, the margay in Belize. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Researchers have stumbled on a surprising talent of this small predatory cat: while studying the pied tamarin (a small Neotropical monkey), researchers observed a margay mimicking the cries of tamarin babies in order to bring its prey closer. While the ploy worked—the tamarins were very curious—the margay was unsuccessful in its hunt. Continue reading: The surprisingly crafty margay The shy forest buffalo  (07/14/2010) The elusive forest buffalo in Gabon. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. While most people are familiar with the African buffalo or cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), its forest-dwelling subspecies (Syncerus caffer nanus) is both lesser known and less-studied by scientists. The IUCN Red List estimates that 60,000 of this subspecies survive, but its population is in decline. Habitat loss and poaching are the major threats. Continue reading: The shy forest buffalo The cryptic courser  (07/13/2010) One of the few photos of Jerdon's courser, and probably the world's best. Photo by: Simon Cook/Birdlife International. Jerdon's courser, listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, is one of India's rarest and most enigmatic birds. Surviving in a small habitat of scrub-jungle, the bird was thought extinct for 80 years. Given its nocturnal habits and its adept camouflage, such a long disappearance is not surprising. Researchers are working on studying the bird to save it before it vanishes again. Although more funds and support are likely needed to ensure its survival. Continue reading: The cryptic courser The last ocean  (07/12/2010) A killer whale surfaces in the Ross Sea. Photo courtesy of: David Ainley. The Ross Sea is considered by marine biologists to be the last great marine waters untouched by humans. In other words, its ecological integrity remains intact: this is a place where penguins, a unique species of killer whale, seals, and fish as big as a man, all thrive in a complex and whole food chain. However, its pristine nature is under threat. Given that so many of the world's fisheries have either collapsed or are under great stress from overfishing, we have now turned our sights on rich Antarctic waters. The Antarctic toothfish, a major slow-growing predator in the Ross Sea, has become a recent target of New Zealand fisheries. Conservationists fear that this species—like the cod, the bluefin tuna, and the orange roughy among others—will be overfished and that our last untouched ocean will soon become as ecologically broken as the rest. Continue reading: The last ocean The dragonflies of Borneo  (07/11/2010) PASIR PANJANG, Borneo – A forest is nothing if not a treasure trove. At no time is this as evident as in the early morning, when the green tapestry sparkles not only with crystal dew, but also with the delicate shimmers of dragonfly wings. These creatures range in color, size and form from the thread-thin pond damsels, to the meaty striped hunters that really are little dragons. When these animals surround one in such abundance, it’s hard not to observe their behavior, which is much more interesting than a pin-head brain might suggest; they perform complex synchronized mating dances over the water, and race each other from stem to stem. The red-winged ones do an odd, four-step, mechanical wing-twitch as soon as they land on a branch, and the blue ones never sit on anything but logs. There is a herd (what would you call a group of dragonflies?) that circles in front of the Care Center building every afternoon, with gorgeous golden black wings, but their hang-out is unknown to me, and so I’ve never managed a photo. The locals speak of a monster dragonfly (Capung in Indonesian, Sensibur in the local Dayak dialect) which only comes out at some elusive hour of the afternoon which I have yet to discover. This is just one of the jewels that can be marveled at in a scrap of tropical rainforest. I say scrap because that is essentially what the 80 hectare piece of secondary swamp forest around OFI`s (Orangutan Foundation International) Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine, is. But a scrap that, apart from glittering with dragonflies, blooms with color, sings with the eerie, repetitive calls of tropical birds and overwhelms the nose with scents that range from heavenly to putrid. The fact is, the rich biodiversity that has drawn naturalists and biologists to the tropics for centuries still persists in the face of the diverse forces that threaten to wipe them out, and every surviving piece of jungle is a testament to that richness. Orangutan Foundation International, based in southern Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), where your devoted author is currently volunteering, strongly believes in protecting tropical rainforests, whether there are orangutans living in them or nor. The greatest threat to the local forests is palm oil plantation development, and the associated clear-cutting. We are currently in the middle of an ambitious project to buy and protect almost all remaining forest in the vicinity of the Care Centre, and create a private, strictly protected 6,000 hectare heath-swamp forest reserve. Continue reading: The dragonflies of Borneo Just how smart is this bee?  (07/07/2010) A bumble bee ponders in Kenya. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Research over the last few years has overturned the idea that insects are instinctual automatons. Instead researchers are uncovering just how intelligent insects are, especially social ones such as this bee. Not convinced? It turns how bees can count, wasps remember faces, and some bumblebees even communicate through a complex 'waggle dance' that uses symbolic language to tell their compatriots where to find nectar. In a recent interview with Dr. Lars Chittka, mongabay.com found out about the many exciting discoveries of insect intelligence: the bumblebee in your backyard will never look the same again. Continue reading: Just how smart is this bee? A last look and then goodbye: an island lizard goes extinct  (07/06/2010) A last look at the now extinct Selmunett lizard (Podarcis filfolensis ssp. Kieselbachi). Photo by: Arnold Sciberras. Arnold Sciberras, a Maltese herpetologist, says the Selmunett lizard is gone. Native to the small island of Selmunett, the species was lost largely due to the introduction of rats on the island. The subspecies was one of four subspecies of the Maltese wall lizard. Continue reading: A last look and then goodbye: an island lizard goes extinct Critically Endangered: the hermit ibis  (07/05/2010) This hermit ibis in the Bronx Zoo is considered Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler, 2008. 'Critically Endangered' is the highest rating given to a species by the IUCN Red List until the species vanishes into extinction. Native to North Africa, the hermit ibis (Geronticus eremite), also known as the Northern bald ibis, is threatened by a variety of impacts including illegal developments, agriculture, hunting, firewood collection, and overgrazing. Most of the population remains in Morocco. Currently 3,566 species are listed as Critically Endangered. However, the IUCN Red List has only evaluated a small portion of the world's known species (around 2 percent). Continue reading: Critically Endangered: the hermit ibis Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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