Skip to page content

2008: The Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Species - Specially Commended

Steve Winter Enlarge image On the big-cat trail

Steve Winter (USA)

On the big-cat trail

'Local biologists in India's Himalayas told me the cat walked through this valley, and so I searched for a location that would create the composition, regardless of whether the cat was walking toward the camera or away.' A snow leopard's thick tail can be up to a metre long. It uses it to balance while on the move over difficult terrain. When it's resting, it often wraps its tail around its face and body to keep warm. Today, the snow leopard is at crisis point, hunted as a predator of livestock, but also for its luxurious coat and its bones.

Canon EOS Rebel XT + 10-22mm lens; 1/200 sec at f16; ISO 100; waterproof camera box + Plexiglass tubes for flashes; Trailmaster 1550-PS remote trigger.

View other winners in this category


  • Special awards Snowstorm leopard Steve Winter

    View

  • Special awards Bleak outlook Stefano Unterthiner

    View

  • Special awards Mountain prowl Steve Winter

    View