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Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife - Runner-up

Juan Carlos Muñoz Click to enlarge Elephant onlooker

Juan Carlos Muñoz (Spain)

Elephant onlooker

Not only are pygmy elephants critically endangered, but they also favour thick forest, which meant that Juan Carlos had his work cut out trying to find any. As he travelled by boat down the Kinabantangan River in Sabah, Borneo, the heavens opened. 'It was so torrential,' says Juan Carlos, 'that I couldn't decide what I was more worried about, the boat sinking as it filled up with rain or how to protect my camera gear.' Suddenly the undergrowth parted and a male pygmy elephant looked out. Slowly munching on leaves, he serenely watched the ongoing boat chaos through the sheets of rain, giving Juan Carlos the chance to take his portrait before the elephant melted back into the forest. Pygmy elephants are found only on the island of Borneo and were classified as a subspecies of the Asian elephant in 2003.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II + Canon 100-400mm lens; 1/60 sec at f5; ISO 400.

This photograph is available to buy as a print.

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