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2007: 15-17 Years - Highly Commended

Christopher Buttigieg Enlarge image Urban primate

Christopher Buttigieg (Gibraltar)

Urban primate

'I was walking through the Upper Rock Nature Reserve near home. I then saw this macaque settling down for a siesta. It didn't bother with me, which let me get quite close. But I didn't want to make eye contact, as it would then have tried to snatch the camera.' Apart from humans, Barbary macaques are the only free-living primates in Europe, but they are only introduced there. They thrive in Gibraltar, with about 230 in six troops. Groups in north Africa do less well. Logging activity has reduced their home and they are killed as pests. Unlike other macaques, this species does not have a tail.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC H2 + Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 36–432mm lens; 1/250 sec at f4; ISO 80; lens hood.

This photograph is available to buy as a print.

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