Sloth Bear- Parambikulam

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Made this on a trek. It was a close encounter as it usually is with sloth bears and we backed off some distance to the top of an embankment before I started clicking. The bear was foraging and was completely unaware of our presence till it heard the camera clicking. Sloth bears are a risky proposition while on foot and one needs to keep distance.

500D, 55-250, 250mm, AE, f5.6, ISO 800, SS1/640, cropped image. C&C welcome...

Rgds
Roopak

[Mrudul Godbole]

Wow nice to see a sloth bear in the open in broad daylight. The raised front paw looks nice. Did you try a horizontal composition? Thanks for sharing.

[Rajan Kanagasabai]

Wow, lovely V under the neckline. They sure are a threat while on foot. How many of you were on the group ? The bigger the group, the lesser the chance of the bear charging . . . . . atleast this is what the forest guards keep telling me whenever i am trekking with them . . . . Thanks for sharing.

regards
Rajan

[Prasad Dingankar]

Thats lovely catch, Also must be a thrilling experience on foot. Thanks for sharing

[V S Sankar]

Nice one Roopakji.Its wonderful to get a bear in Kerala.I have listened to the growls of bear in Idamalayar(Near Thattekkad bird sanctuary) while asleep at night.But never saw a bear in day light or for that matter at night.This pic is proof that they existed!Good one.

Regards`

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Rare sighting in the open.Nice pose.The composition gives a better feel about the habitat.Your knowledge about its behaviour has helped you.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Supreet Sahoo]

Agree with Mrudul on the horiz compo. The V on the neck is wonderfully captured. Must have been a thrilling experience on foot im sure. Roopak would it look good if you had tried boosting the colors a bit (?), specially the greens.

Tfs
Supreet

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice one Roopak!

It is always an interesting experience to sight a bear during a trek. Better to take precautions. So it was right to back off. Often the bear is busy with its head virtually inserted in the anthill and its tongue in full action getting the termites. The resulting sound and its poor hearing abilities results in people getting much closer to the bear before it realises that there are people close by.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Thanks all for the comments.

Mrudul :The compo was a matter of cropping :) as we had backed off some distance.There were only 2 of us, me and the tracker and it was an open area, so the chances were high as suggested by rajan sab.The bear sort of reared up so I tried a vertical.

Supreet I posted this from a uncalibrated monitor and actually reduced the contrast feeling it looked unnatural .

Shankar sab bear sightings are common at Tholpetty, ive seen them 5 times there. this is the first at parambikulam.

Rgds
Roopak

[Suraj Sreedhar]

Nice that you got to see a Sloth Bear in open that too in Parambikulam,really lucky.Thanks for sharing.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Very nice. Must have been a real thrill. The vertical composition works. Any more images of this guy?
tfs

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Thanks Abhishek. did make a few more images .will post soon....

TFS
Roopak

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Lovely image Roopak bhai. The "V" as pointed out by many looks very nice. There seems to be some grainy stuff on its back, maybe it needs a nice shampoo :D Thanks for sharing.