Black Buck

Photographed this at Maidanahalli.

Canon 50D, 100-400mm L IS USM, ISO 640, f8, 1/1250, hand held.

Comments and critiques welcome...

Nice image, the composition & the habitat portrayed looks good. The light seems quite harsh, you could have reduced the ISO to 250. Looks like it has not rained there as the place seems dry. Did you get any raptors?
tfs

Nice Photograph of this Male Blackbuck,one of the most graceful antelopes in the world, loving eyes,spiral horns and the habitat well documented.Upper Half of the coat of this Male Blackbuck appears to me is Blackish Brown,in many Males it is Black .
E.P.Gee has written: Backbuck is the fastest animal in the world on four legs and Indian Cheetah(now extinct),its traditional Predator was not as Fast as Blackbuck really and could catch them in the initial spurt.SaktiWild

I beg Excuse.Fogot to write'Thanks for sharing'.SaktiWild

Nice side profile.

I am sharing some interesting information from A. A. Dunbar Brander's writings (Wild Animals in Central India).

"It has been previously stated that they are the fastest four-footed animal in the world, and although they can be stalked and rushed over a short distance by a hunting leopard, they soon draw away and the leopard abandons the chase. Moreover, the black buck can keep up his pace almost interminably. The value of a flying start is well known in racing, and to what extent this advantage serves the cheetah or hunting leopard I cannot say, but the ease with which this animal can be run down and speared shows that even given his ability to out-pace the black buck for a very limited distance, this does not entitle him to pride of place regarding fleetness. Given it possible to start both animals together, after the first hundred yards or so it would only be a question of by how much the buck was leading, and the further they went, the greater this would be.

No African antelope possesses the speed of the black buck, and I am informed that all those inhabiting ride-able country have been ridden down on horses much inferior to those which have been pitted against black buck. The cheetah is a common African animal, but his attention is divided between a large number of different antelopes, whereas in India this is concentrated almost entirely on the black buck or the Chinkara, an animal possessing almost an equal fleetness. Is it possible that this factor accounts for the development of the phenomenal speed, and that endurance has been acquired to escape from the more persistent and tireless wolf?"

"In the rains in soft ground buck get bogged, or pick up clods of earth on their feet, and under these conditions I have killed them with dogs, but given fair conditions I have never seen thoroughbred greyhounds take a turn out of them".

And on the flying leaps of the blackbucks while fleeing away: ".....there had been a slight shower and the space between the perfect slots when measured showed that when extended the buck covered 19 to 22 feet at each stride".

On speed in terms of miles per hour:
"I once saw a buck beat a Ford car which was "all out" and must have been doing at least 35 miles an hour. It is believed that black buck are capable of maintaining a speed of over 40 miles an hour for a considerable distance".

George B. Schaller, in the Deer and the Tiger hasn't mentioned about the speed of Black buck except quoting Budden. "Budden (1921) clocked a running buck at thirty-three miles per hour".

My personal guess is that the black buck's speed in full throttle must be more than 60-65 kmph.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Thanks guys for the interesting discussion on the black buck. Last month when I was at bidar shooting a group of blackbuck and a male suddenly took off..the group followed him. We tried to drive parallel to them but they were sprinting quite fast!

Nice composition showing the habitat...could it be a little more sharper?

tfs

The Krishnasar Mrig of the classics, it was this skin that is the approved one for meditation.

Nice image but with all that light 640 looks too high. What has happened is the contrast on the pelt is all lost. The Horns (Bucks have horns and not antlers, i was told in school), look nice but had it faced the camera, the elegance would have been portrayed better.

All said, a very nice shot of a handsome black buck.

Arijit

Thanks everyone for the comments and the information.

I had raised the ISO to 640 ( normally I don't go above ISO 400) to get the black buck chasing the female, as I thought I will need some high shutter speed for that. I got a few images of that, but mostly they ran in the opposite direction form us, will post it later for record.