Page 59 - Australian Photography Dec 2020

RESULTS: 2020 WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
THE LAST BITE
BY RIPAN BISWAS, INDIA
WINNER: WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR PORTFOLIO AWARD
These two ferocious predators don’t often meet. The giant riverine tiger beetle pursues prey on the ground, while weaver ants stay mostly in the trees – but if they do meet, both need to be wary. When an ant colony went hunting small insects on a dry river bed in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India, a tiger beetle began to pick off some of the ants. In an act of defence, one of the ants bit into the predator’s hind leg, but the beetle swiftly turned and snipped its attacker in two. “The beetle kept pulling, trying to rid itself of the ant’s grip,” says Ripan. A tiger beetle’s bright orange spots may be a warning to predators that it uses poison – cyanide – for protection.
Nikon D5200, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 lens. 1/160s @ f8; ISO 160. Viltrox ring flash.
BACKROOM BUSINESS
BY PAUL HILTON, AUSTRALIA
WINNER: WILDLIFE PHOTOJOURNALIST STORY AWARD
A young pig-tailed macaque is put on show chained to a wooden cage in Bali’s bird market, Indonesia. Its mother and the mothers of the other youngsters on show, would have been killed. Pig-tailed macaques are energetic, social primates living in large troops in forests throughout Southeast Asia. As the forests are destroyed,
they increasingly raid agricultural crops and are shot as pests. The babies are then sold into a life of solitary confinement as a pet, to a zoo or for biomedical research.
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, Canon 16–35mm lens @ 16mm. 1/10s @ f3.2; ISO 1600.
| 59 | DECEMBER 2020 | AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM