Guest Post: How Photography Taught Me to Love Science and Preserve the Planet

This week's post was written by my friend Leonardo Ramos! Leo is a pro wildlife photographer turned science communicator, but he wasn't always interested in science or nature. Read on to see how nature photography changed Leo's life.

Animal Intelligence

I’ve written about animal intelligence before, to some extent. A few weeks ago, I talked about some small cats, including the margay, which is the only known predator to use vocal mimicry to try to lure its prey closer. In one of my earliest posts, I celebrated the kea, NZ’s native alpine parrot that’s at least as smart as human 4-year-olds…

Living Costs

After writing last week’s post about small cats, I remembered a Washington Post article from last year about bobcats. Specifically, one particular bobcat that brings in over $308,000 USD for Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding area every year. … These scenarios are some of many where a dead animal may be worth some money, but a live animal can bring in a disproportionately higher amount….

Move over, big cats

When it comes to publicity for protecting wild cats, the big ones get the lion’s share of attention and funding. The 7 big cat species are some of the best known animals in the world. But what about the world’s other wild cats? There are 33 known “small cat” species around the world that are just as important and deserve just as much attention…

What's in my camera kit?

Earlier this week, I took advantage of an unusually warm and clear autumn day to go explore the coast around Dunedin. It was also an excuse to properly try out my new telephoto lens! As many photographers will tell you, it’s really important to know your equipment well when you’re photographing wildlife, so I took most of a day to learn the ropes of the nicest, biggest lens on the best camera I’ve ever had…

Do Photos Tell the Truth?

In the early days of photography, capturing shots of live wild animals was impossible. But as the technology improved, cameras became valuable tools for studying the behavior of wildlife. With a photo, you could freeze a moment in time, and appreciate the technique and beauty of an animal’s action…

James Cook: Naturalist

I was cleaning my room earlier this week when I came across a stack of paper covered in my own messy writing. Intrigued, I sat down to read. Turns out they were my notes and speculations from reading the accounts of James Cook, leader of 3 hugely influential voyages to explore the Pacific and southern oceans in the late 18th century...

Kiwi Seas

Last night I got to go to the Ocean Film Festival on its stop in Dunedin, NZ on its world tour. Nine phenomenal films, ranging from 2-32 minutes each, covering everything from freediving world records to a somewhat misguided attempt to cross the Atlantic in a two-person rowboat with zero ocean rowing experience. And lots about marine life too – fish, corals, cuttlefish, sea turtles, sharks, whales, manta rays, and more...

4 Weird Ways to Save Rhinos... maybe

Earlier this week, the last male northern white rhino died, signaling the end of the subspecies. Several other types of rhinos are endangered as well. The largest group are the white rhinos (including all subspecies) with around 21,000 individuals, while the Javan rhino numbers a mere 50-65 individuals, making it a competitor for the world’s rarest large mammal (one of nature’s worst competitions)...

Women for Wildnerness

Happy International Women's Day! This week we celebrate some of the smart, passionate, and strong women in nature conservation and wildlife photography - some you'll know, and some you probably won't know. Every one of these ladies has played a critical role in protecting biodiversity, and/or sharing the wild with the public through photography or other works...

Secrets of the Saola

You’ve probably heard that the vast majority of species are unknown. ... It’s thought that most of the undiscovered creatures are small, easily-overlooked creatures like insects and other invertebrates. You’d think that larger, more obvious animals would’ve all been found and described by now, right?

Given that the saola was only discovered in 1992, maybe not...