Elephant, Polar Bear, Lion, Gorilla, Tiger Win Photography Contest
The term “Big Five” once described Africa’s trophy animals that resisted easy slaughtering by high end tourists: lion, elephant, leopard, rhino, and buffalo. They still exist but generally killing defenseless animals is frowned on (except in Texas). Shooting with a camera is preferred.
Marsel van Oosten / The New Big 5
British photographer Graeme Green is fine tuning the narrative further; he’s declared a global “New Big Five” for wildlife photography. Green enlisted the help of people – 50,000 of them – to vote for the five animals they would most like to photograph or see photographed, in the wild. The winners: the elephant, polar bear, lion, gorilla, and tiger.
The result is a big, beautiful book released this week featuring the work of Green and 145 other wildlife photographers from around the world. Each of the five featured animals gets its own chapter, but there is also space devoted to other endangered species: rhinos, cheetahs, lemurs, frogs, vultures, sharks, whales, and turtles.
Graeme Green / The New Big 5
There are 226 stunning photographs, along with essays by the world’s leading conservationists, not only reminding us what we stand to lose if we don’t turn things around, but practical solutions to save these threatened animals and their habitats.
Conservation icon Jane Goodall, who penned the book’s afterword, says it’s not too late for these majestic species. “We have a window of time during which we can start to heal some of the harm we have inflicted on the natural world, but only if we get together and take action now.”
In the US, captive or “canned” hunts are still allowed in at least two dozen states, according to the Humane Society. They estimate there are at least 1,000 captive hunting operations (half of them in Texas), including some that target endangered animals, which is perversely allowed under the Endangered Species Act. These pseudo-sportsmen should put down their guns and pick up a book. We can recommend a good one.
“The New Big 5: A Global Photography Project for Endangered Wildlife” is available from Earth Aware Editions for $75.
Tiger photo credit: Thomas Vijayan / The New Big 5
Hao Jiang / The New Big 5
