Praveen Siddannavar
26-11-2010, 07:31 AM
Friends I missed out on informing you earlier that one of my images of Wild Dog & Chital was selected by a non profit organization "Voice for Wildlife". They conducted an exhibition in Mysore from 12th Oct'10 until 2nd week of Nov'10 for Conservation and Wildlife. A large frame of this image 18x24 was displayed during the event at Mysore. I am yet to receive the photos of the event and will share them soon.
For the new members here's the story in brief of the Wild Dog Kill - It was Friday the 7th August 2009, we headed into the Bandipur Tiger Reserve for our morning safari, the forest seemed quite dull, no sightings of any animals whatsoever. We drove for almost an hour and half and couldn’t see anything including deers. With lots of frustration and disappointment we were heading back to the exit gate as the time was almost 8:40am, I requested my driver Kiran to take a last chance & check Tavare Katte the largest water body in Bandipur forest. As we were approaching the water body, I sighted 5 Wild Dogs (Dholes), and they were walking towards the water body. We followed them and noticed that the dholes were thirsty and were drinking water. I just said to Kiran I wish I could see a kill, & Kiran replied “Sir the dholes are drinking water that means they have already made kill. You may have the experience of spending several years in the forest but sometimes you can still go wrong in understanding behavior of these animals. We patiently waited and watched the dholes, all of a sudden on the other side of the water body we saw a spotted deer being chased by the rest of the pack of dholes. In state of panic the deer jumped into the water, this is what exactly the dholes wanted. The alpha male then took charge & jumped into the water. Dholes are excellent swimmers, the alpha male chased the deer in the water for a while, and I managed to shoot the complete sequence. Death comes to deer by shock, exhaustion & drowning. The image enclosed is a rare sight; the expressions of the prey and predator speak thousands of words and tell us the story. I must admit that I was blessed not only to see this live but also to capture images in pixels. This is raw nature at its best, finally the alpha male pulled the deer to the shore and the rest of the pack had the feast. In all there were pack of 14 dholes that including few puppies. These are laws of the jungle & we must respect the Mother Nature – “in order for one has to live the other has to die".
Equipment used – Canon 40D, Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS USM lens. EXIF – ISO 500, Av 5.6, Tv 1/400sec. Shot on 7th Aug’09 @ 8:45am
For the new members here's the story in brief of the Wild Dog Kill - It was Friday the 7th August 2009, we headed into the Bandipur Tiger Reserve for our morning safari, the forest seemed quite dull, no sightings of any animals whatsoever. We drove for almost an hour and half and couldn’t see anything including deers. With lots of frustration and disappointment we were heading back to the exit gate as the time was almost 8:40am, I requested my driver Kiran to take a last chance & check Tavare Katte the largest water body in Bandipur forest. As we were approaching the water body, I sighted 5 Wild Dogs (Dholes), and they were walking towards the water body. We followed them and noticed that the dholes were thirsty and were drinking water. I just said to Kiran I wish I could see a kill, & Kiran replied “Sir the dholes are drinking water that means they have already made kill. You may have the experience of spending several years in the forest but sometimes you can still go wrong in understanding behavior of these animals. We patiently waited and watched the dholes, all of a sudden on the other side of the water body we saw a spotted deer being chased by the rest of the pack of dholes. In state of panic the deer jumped into the water, this is what exactly the dholes wanted. The alpha male then took charge & jumped into the water. Dholes are excellent swimmers, the alpha male chased the deer in the water for a while, and I managed to shoot the complete sequence. Death comes to deer by shock, exhaustion & drowning. The image enclosed is a rare sight; the expressions of the prey and predator speak thousands of words and tell us the story. I must admit that I was blessed not only to see this live but also to capture images in pixels. This is raw nature at its best, finally the alpha male pulled the deer to the shore and the rest of the pack had the feast. In all there were pack of 14 dholes that including few puppies. These are laws of the jungle & we must respect the Mother Nature – “in order for one has to live the other has to die".
Equipment used – Canon 40D, Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS USM lens. EXIF – ISO 500, Av 5.6, Tv 1/400sec. Shot on 7th Aug’09 @ 8:45am