PDN Photo of the Day

September 26, 2013

Lions, and Elephants and Cameras, Oh My

For our two-year lion project, we centered our work around the females of the Vumbi (“dust” in Swahili) pride, raising cubs in the difficult feast and famine of the Serengeti plains. We also focused on this black-maned male, one of two resident coalition males. The researchers called him C-Boy. Image made with invisible infrared light. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2012. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
We habituated the Vumbi pride to a remote-controlled toy camera car and were able to make very intimate ground-level images. This gave a dignified insight into lion social behavior. The fragile car would morph into a rugged robot tank as the assignment continued. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2011. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
Resident coalition male C-Boy guarded this zebra killed by the Vumbi pride for a whole day. He only began to eat at dusk. Later that night he was seen dragging the carcass toward a defensible rock outcropping with 13 hungry lions and 20 hyenas trailing him. Image made with robot tank. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2012. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
During the rains this unnamed kopje (rock outcropping) has a waterhole that brings prey for the Vumbi pride. On this afternoon they rested closely together after all five females attacked Hildur, the second male in the resident coalition. Why? Maybe simply because there was not enough food to share. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2012. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
Realizing it was safe, young males recolonized the forest around this basecamp in Bomassa, Congo-Brazzaville. Outside Bomassa, Republic of the Congo, 2000. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
Some of my favorite images were taken by the elephants themselves, as they broke the invisible beams of carefully placed camera traps. Loango National Park, Gabon, 2003. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
Elephants come from far and wide to dig much-needed minerals. Forest elephants travel in family groups, not herds. Ivindo National Park, Gabon, 2003. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
The Vumbi pride prepares for the evening hunt. Serengeti plains lions, because they have no cover, hunt by the darkness of night. They’re very tuned in to both when the sun rises and sets and when the moon rises and sets. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2012. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
For our two-year lion project, we centered our work around the females of the Vumbi (“dust” in Swahili) pride, raising cubs in the difficult feast and famine of the Serengeti plains. We also focused on this black-maned male, one of two resident coalition males. The researchers called him C-Boy. Image made with invisible infrared light. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2012. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
We habituated the Vumbi pride to a remote-controlled toy camera car and were able to make very intimate ground-level images. This gave a dignified insight into lion social behavior. The fragile car would morph into a rugged robot tank as the assignment continued. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2011. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
Resident coalition male C-Boy guarded this zebra killed by the Vumbi pride for a whole day. He only began to eat at dusk. Later that night he was seen dragging the carcass toward a defensible rock outcropping with 13 hungry lions and 20 hyenas trailing him. Image made with robot tank. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2012. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
During the rains this unnamed kopje (rock outcropping) has a waterhole that brings prey for the Vumbi pride. On this afternoon they rested closely together after all five females attacked Hildur, the second male in the resident coalition. Why? Maybe simply because there was not enough food to share. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2012. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
Realizing it was safe, young males recolonized the forest around this basecamp in Bomassa, Congo-Brazzaville. Outside Bomassa, Republic of the Congo, 2000. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
Some of my favorite images were taken by the elephants themselves, as they broke the invisible beams of carefully placed camera traps. Loango National Park, Gabon, 2003. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
Elephants come from far and wide to dig much-needed minerals. Forest elephants travel in family groups, not herds. Ivindo National Park, Gabon, 2003. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo
The Vumbi pride prepares for the evening hunt. Serengeti plains lions, because they have no cover, hunt by the darkness of night. They’re very tuned in to both when the sun rises and sets and when the moon rises and sets. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2012. © Michael Nichols/National Geographic, Courtesy Anastasia Photo

Wildlife photographer Michael “Nick” Nichols’s long-term project documenting the lives of African lions and elephants is currently on view at Anastasia Photo in New York City through October 30, 2013. The corresponding book, Earth to Sky: Among Africa’s Elephants (Aperture 2013), was recently released, and the project was featured in the August 2013 issue of National Geographic, a publication Nichols has been working with for over 30 years. This particular National Graphic article became a unique online experience, in what they are calling “a first of many experiments in digital storytelling.” Photo captions provided by Michael Nichols/Courtesy of Anastasia Photo.

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  2. As an East African resident I am blown away by your images. I have a lot to learn but this has inspired me to get out to Serengeti ASAP”……..

  4. @Lu: Sorry to ‘disappoint’ you, but that’s not the ocean. That’s the open savannah of the Serengeti. You can see a tree in the far distance, and those speckles are undoubtedly Wildebeest (Gnu).
    But it is a great photo. :)

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