Across land, water and air, from the wild to the stray to the domestic, from fireflies and beetles to elephants and whales, from the exotic to the common - here are some shots of animals from Asia to Africa and the Americas. The beauty of evolution’s diversity is portrayed in this nutshell, but also nature’s most vicious predator: with all wildlife and the entire food chain at his disposal, man is the omnipotent link in this order, and his presence can often be seen without him even making an appearance.
These shots are in color. For a b/w animals gallery click here.
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collections
photos | animals
Evolutionary Kaleidoscope
discovering nature's blueprint-variety
Evolution is incredible, believe (in) it or not! It is the long and complex link between life's dawn in single-celled organisms and its awakening in human consciousness. So much change has happened along nature's journey, so many blueprints tried and altered and dismissed and reinvented... see more
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a glimpse
glimpse: UNIMPRESSED | Self-what now? Self-drive safari? That didn’t sound right. I mean we’re talking wild animals here, above all the ones with wheels for legs. Weren’t these African national parks afraid that some ruthless safari human ran over a lion or a dung beetle? Nope. And wouldn’t the quadrupeds attack cars? Yebbo. Ask my friend how he learned that lionesses can open car doors with their teeth. Or let me draw you a front row picture of a charging elephant, forcing an entire lineup of vehicles into a comical polonaise of reversing cars. But the DIY-freedom is hard to pass up and as long as the interaction is respectful, the grey giants are utterly unimpressed with human presence, ambling in front of these most curious intruders without a worry in the world.
glimpse: REV | "Revving the engine is enough to lure them," explained our captain. Then he fed them anyway. Right off Belize's Caye Caulker, nurse sharks live alongside stingrays, eagle rays, manatees and other neighbors in an oceanic vicinity known as Shark Ray Alley. Local boat operators use bait in preparation of a touristic snorkel encounter with the harmless animals in the shallow and crystal clear Caribbean waters. The ethically dubious feeding practice has conditioned the sharks to line up in front of the boats by the mere sound of an outboard and raises the question of how this unnatural dependence and behavior will affect the animals in the long run.
glimpse: SENTIENCE BORDER | Looking down from the lofty top of the food chain, we feel like all other animals are at our disposal. Fellow evolutionary contenders serve us as food, entertainment, company, decoration or guinea pigs without having a say in it. That none of them speak our language is truly convenient, because we probably wouldn’t like what they’d have to say. Animals can’t tell us about their experience, but reading between the lines it’s easy to tell that many are sentient and some even self-aware in ways similar to human consciousness. The border we draw between sentient and insentient beings is mostly arbitrary and based on our comfort – a conscience just feels lighter when the ocean creature we cage for home décor doesn't feel. Yet, while the sentience of fish is still disputed, science has continuously revised the sentience border with concluded findings like the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, so that the circle of acknowledged perceiving and feeling animals has grown a lot bigger. Of course, humans feel pretty indifferent about that.
Cianjur, Java / Indonesia fishes sold in plastic bags
Montreal / Canada fishing
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related
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photos | essays
Disposable Nature
human agency in the enslavement of nature
...equipped with consciousness we are quite possibly the only animal around that has a notion of tomorrow and certainly the only one capable of actively shaping our future days together... see more
countries | Central America | Belize
Caye Caulker / Inflate-Burst-Flux of a Clichéd Island Bubble
the bond of a moment’s fun
...not much of you or anybody else can stay there, too little the ripple, too constant the stream. A moment’s fun is the bond and doesn’t ask for any more or less... explore
glimpses
one photo, one storypeople
humans across the worldlandscapes
known marvels & chance discoveriesurban
cityscapes & streetb/w
when inked in black & whiteessays
curated collections with narrativesShow More