Masai Mara, Kenya - July 2017 This cheetah after marking it's territory on the background of the tree, he head for this hill, in order to scout a potential prey in the horizon. This was with no doubt an inexperienced young cheetah, given that brief moments after this photo was taken, he tried to invest on a family of warthogs, ending up running away from them, in a comic reversal of roles! Sadly, this majestic cat, is dangerously close to extinction as you have less than 8.000 in the wild. According to an investigation led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the latest cheetah census suggests that the big cats, which are already few in number, may decline by an additional 53 percent over the next 15 years, occupying 9% of the territory they once lived in. These scary numbers are enhanced by habitat loss, human conflicts, high mortality rate among cubs and most serious of all, illegal trade...yes, you did not misunderstood...the fastest animal on earth ends up into a cage in some garage or in a luxurious living room. Patricia Tricorache, who investigates the illegal trade for the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund, told National Geographic’s Wildlife Watch last year that She has documented 250 cases involving a thousand illegally traded cheetahs since 2005. Many cheetah populations have fewer than a hundred of cats, so taking just one of them can reduce that population’s viability.
Mara Triangle, Kenya - July 2017 What I love most about this picture is the minimalist composition of these two juvenile Lionesses with the tree in the background. For me photography in wildlife is more than a portrait and body language, but rather its interaction with the environment in his natural habitat and freedom. When male lions begin to reach sexual maturity, around age two, the older males within the pride kick them out. After being kicked out, the young males roam the countryside solo or in small bands, often with their brothers or cousins, negotiating the no-cat's-land between territories of other lions. This situation increases the mortality rate among males, which probably explains the reason why we see much more females in the Wild.
