2012: Behaviour: Cold-Blooded Animals - Commended
Klaus Tamm (Germany)
Sizing up
A scattering of gecko droppings on the sunny veranda of Klaus’s holiday apartment near Etang-Sale-les-Hauts, on the French island of Réunion, had attracted some unusual-looking insects. They were neriid long-legged flies. Klaus settled down with his camera to watch as they interacted. ‘Every so often, a couple of males would take a break from feeding and engage in a kind of combat dance that involved spinning around each other,’ he says. ‘They would finish by stretching up to their full one and a half centimetres, then pushing with their mouthparts, shoulders and forelegs until one gained height, before flying away or mating with nearby females. I was so impressed by the harmony in the combat dance that I ended up photographing them for several hours.’
Canon 5D Mark II + 100mm lens; 1/250 sec at f3.2 (+ 0.75 e/v); ISO 800.
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Winner Into the mouth of the caiman Luciano Candisani
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Commended Father’s little mouthful Steven Kovacs
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