I was fortunate to be one of the first people to visit the den of a pack of African Wild Dogs (Painted Dogs) in the Ngala concession of Kruger National Park last week...this concession is just south of the Timbavati and west of Orpen. There are 17 puppies in this year's litter! While we were there, the adults called them out and regurgitated meat for them three times. We spent the better part of 2 hours with the pups before they all ducked into the termite mound they used as a den again.
So many images to work through, but here's a quick one.
Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f5.6 | 1/800 SS | ISO-900
80% of original image, cropped for composition
Comments
6 commentsMorkel,
Always great to see proof of the resurgence of Wild Dogs, the pups are so cute.
How was Ngala, last there in 2002!
No dogs then
Over the top cute, Morkel. Love the interaction. Nice capture.
Very, very cute one Morkel. I don't think I've seen a photo of wild dogs this young. They were the first predators I saw in Kruger last year (on the S25 Crocodile river road) and I fell for them.
Only small distraction is the 4th pup in the background.
Cheers,
Hisham.
Great action capture with excellent eyes of all three. I agree with the very minor nit of fourth pup. Low, low perspective is very effective and the raised foot of center subject adds much to the "living" tension.
Thanks a lot folks!
What a wonderful shot of my favorite African predator Morkel! I agree with the others that it would have been nice if that OOF fourth cub had chosen somewhere else to play but that's why it's called wildlife photography and not studio photorgraphy. These cubs are so, so cute and among the youngest I've ever seen photographed....I'm green with envy.