2006: The Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Species - Highly Commended
Bernard Castelein (Belgium)
Golden leaf monkey
This wary individual, its beautiful coat spotlit, fulfilled Bernard's ambition to photograph a golden leaf monkey in the wild - a species known to science only since 1956. 'But to get the shot took five trips to Assam,' he says. These highly endangered langurs, threatened by logging, are confined to forest remnants in the Himalayan foothills on the border of Assam, in India, and Bhutan. They live in the treetops and so are extremely difficult to photograph. 'I finally found a group that would allow me close enough to use a long lens,' says Bernard, 'but even then they were very nervous'.
Nikon D2x with Nikkor AFS 500mm f4 lens; 1/500 sec at f4; 200 ISO.
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Special awards Napping manatees Jun Kezuka
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Special awards Sunlit langur Jean-pierre Zwaenepoel
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