The most picturesque of antelopes and deer, in their most picturesque settings
@ludwig_muller @alex_wall @omarthenaturlist5 @noepacheco @brucebennett @tonyrebelo @jeremygilmore
Sometimes, nature throws together animals that happen to be photogenic, with surroundings that happen to be photogenic. This results in beautiful photos, combining scientific interest with aesthetic appeal.
Here, I focus on two such cases:
- the bontebok in fynbos, and
- barren-ground caribou in the tundra in autumn.
Fynbos, the vegetation of the southwestern tip of Africa, tends to feature splashes of colour despite being evergreen. A typical element is the protea Leucadendron (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=186152), the foliage of which turns cheerfully yellow each winter (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/122801288). Adjacent to fynbos, other vegetation types feature floral carpets of various herbaceous plants.
An indigenous herbivore of the Fynbos Biome is the bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus pygargus, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/42275-Damaliscus-pygargus). This subspecies, now sedentary, is easily located and photogenic throughout the year, in both sexes, and from birth to old age.
The conservation areas involved are all small, but they are easily accessible and have surprisingly diverse floras and faunas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bontebok_National_Park and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Coast_National_Park and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_Mountain_National_Park#Cape_Point_section and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Hoop_Nature_Reserve.
The caribou/reindeer is widespread in the boreal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreal_ecosystem) and subArctic zones. However, it is in Alaska (subspecies granti, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupine_caribou#:~:text=The%20Porcupine%20caribou%20or%20Grant%27s,is%20sometimes%20included%20in%20it. and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denali_National_Park_and_Preserve), and in the Northwest Territories of Canada (subspecies groenlandicus, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Territories), that its pied pattern of colouration can best be depicted in combination with the varied hues of its habitat.
Here, the cycle of moult and regrowth of the pelage is timed such that the full pattern happens to be expressed in tree-line vegetation, between the coniferous forest and the tundra. And, as it happens, this vegetation is in its full autumn colours at this time.
The ecosystems traversed by barren-ground caribou are incomparably more vast than those seen in the southwestern Cape of South Africa - regardless of the possibility that the bontebok itself was formerly migratory over modest distances. To photograph the caribou in its most picturesque settings calls for professionally organised, specialised tours to remote areas.
BONTEBOK
https://www.wintershoeksafaris.com/species/bontebok/
https://www.jnomade.org/en/hiace-3/southafrica/misc/
http://www.westerncapebirding.co.za/news/2188/birding_in_the_bontebok_national_park
https://onlyin.africa/2017/04/30/bontebok-national-park/
https://www.roomsforafrica.com/attraction.do?id=28
CARIBOU
scroll in https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/arcticadventure2014.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/blmiers2/6121830597
Also see photos in comments section of https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/67534-caleonic-colouration-in-the-caribou-part-2-rangifer-tarandus-pearyi-in-context#
Usá ArgentiNat con app iNaturalist
Comentarios
https://www.wildcard.co.za/ostrich-chases-aardvark/
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Models-of-Bontebok-%28Damaliscus-pygargus-pygargus%2C-Luyt/a459279c3e1c0b521592ce278d54576c4085e682
Indeed, these photos show that the beauty of the natural world is ubiquitous, from the remarkable fynbos of the Cape Floristic Region to the boreal forest of the Nearctic. The majestic serendipity that has allowed it to exist in such spectacular diversity is to be appreciated for the astounding diversity of existence it has created. It's truly unfortunate that we cannot ever see the Hippotragus leucophaeus and the Equus quagga quagga in those photos.
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