Another scenic shot of one of my favorite places in South Africa.
This is a sunrise on Thanda Private Game Reserve in Kwazulu Natal.
Picture Data: Camera: Canon 1D Mark IV / Lens: Canon L IS 28-300mm at 200mm/ Mode: AV / Shutter Speed: 1/3000s / Aperture: f/5.6 / ISO: 400 / Exposure Correction +/-0eV / Metering: Central weighted / White balance: Auto / Center point focus only / Time: early morning / cropped to approx 50% / Freehand from vehicle
[View all Pictures of the Week 2012]
Most of the time you see a picture of a lion with an open mouth the animal is either yawning or flehming. It may look threatening and intimidating but it really is neither.
The young lioness in this pictures shows that she is quite upset. She is growling at two young males (one of them in the picture), which were part of a different pride, who walked quietly past her in a show of dominance.
This scene was part of an encounter of the juvenile offspring from two prides on Thanda Private Game Reserve (2 males and one female on both sides). This happened while the adult females of each pride were absent.
During the time we watched the encounter there were no open hostilities, just lots of territorial marking behavior, many growls and fierce facial expressions (as the one in the picture 🙂
But the next day the males of both prides showed obvious signs of a night battle (wounds from claws on his shoulder – see the picture below).
More about lions:
Both males and females defend the pride and its territory against intruders. The male(s) associated with the pride must defend their relationship to the pride from outside males who attempt to take over their relationship with the pride. Females form the stable social unit in a pride and do not tolerate outside females. Membership only changes with the births and deaths of lionesses, although some females do leave and become nomadic and/or form a new pride. Sub-adult males on the other hand, must leave the pride when they reach maturity at around 2–3 years of age.
Picture Data:
Picture 1: Camera: Canon 1Ds MIII / Lens: Canon L 4.0 500mm / Mode: AV / Shutter Speed: 1/500s / Aperture: f/4 / ISO: 400 / Exposure Correction +1eV / Metering: Central weighted / White balance: manual K6500 / Time: midday / Freehand
Picture 2: Camera: Canon 1D MIV / Lens: Canon L 3.5-5.6 28-300mm at 210mm / Mode: AV / Shutter Speed: 1/4000s / Aperture: f/5.6 / ISO: 1600 / Exposure Correction +0.5eV / Metering: Central weighted / White balance: manual K6500 / Time: mid morning / Freehand
For more Lion pictures got to
www.sperka.biz/lion (for African Lion)
www.sperka.biz/lion2 (for African Lion in zoos)
www.sperka.biz/lion3 (for Asiatic Lion)
These two Cape Hunting Dog puppies were playing when they were rudly interrupted by the photographer 🙂
The picture was taken at Thanda Private Game Reserve, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa.
Enjoy the picture!
For more Cape Hunting Dog (or African Wild Dog) pictures go to www.sperka.biz/chd
About Cape Hunting Dogs / African Wild Dog:
The Cape Hunting Dog (Lycaon pictus) is a large canid found only in Africa, especially in savannas and lightly wooded areas. It is variously called the African wild dog, African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog, painted dog, painted wolf, painted hunting dog, spotted dog, or ornate wolf. This dog is the only canine without dewclaws which are the claws that are on the inside of the front feet.
The Cape Hunting Dog has a the highest biting force of any extant mammal of the order Carnivora, although exceeded by the Tasmanian devil a marsupial carnivore.
Litters can contain up to 19 pups, though ~10 is the most common. The typical gestation period is 70 days. Females will disperse from their birth pack at 14–30 months of age and join other packs that lack sexually mature females. Males typically do not leave the pack in which they were born. In a typical pack, males outnumber females by a factor of two to one, and only the dominant female is usually able to rear pups. The species is also unusual in that some members of the pack, including males, may be left to guard the pups whilst the others, including the mothers, join the hunting group.
