African savannah at night (Martin Dohrn)

The sky at night: A herd of wildebeest is silhouetted against the stars on the plains of the Masai Mara in Kenya


Silhouetted against a stunning night sky, these powerful wildebeest appear completely captivated by the stars.

The picture is just one of a series of incredible images captured by film-maker Martin Dohrn, who used imaging equipment adapted from military technology to show Kenya's Masai Mara game reserve as it has never been seen before.

Among the photographs are lions hunting, elephants trekking through the night and whole herds of animals grazing on the African savannah.

Mr Dohrn's images need no artificial light, which allows him to film the creatures without being seen.

'We were able to see that in the light of a full moon animals on the plain could see each other clearly, from any distance. Herds would spread out, graze and generally relax.

'By the light of a quarter moon, we saw a zebra pick out a lion in the grass almost 200m (650ft) away.

'Watching young inexperienced lions was great entertainment as they run towards non-existent prey. It was a completely new world, less than a game of cat and mouse, more blind man's buff.


Big beasts: This group of elephants slowly winds its way across the plain, oblivious to the film crew tracking their movements



Extraordinary images: Lions surround two rhinos. The film was shot with no artificial lights


In for the kill: Lions are seen bringing down a hippopotamus


All creatures great and small: A huge herd of antelope are highlighted against a dark background as they graze

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328484/Stars-night-sky-Herd-wildebeest-captured-Masai-Mara.html

On moonless nights, giraffes prefer to sit down and chew the cud. Interestingly, the thermal camera shows that they have very hot heads.


The thermal imaging camera reveals a swollen, hot section on this zebra's leg. It is possible the lions were able to listen out for its irregular footfalls in the dark.


A large group of hyenas gather after a kill. (http://www.geo-bg.bg/thumbs/original/47/63/00/-6347.jpg)


http://www.discoverwildlife.com/gallery/africa-after-dark-photo-gallery-martin-dohrn

Night Stalkers "trailer"
http://vimeo.com/30430917




Maybe this thread would stay better in the science section

Jaguar
http://vimeo.com/33397088

^
Fantastic pix. Thanks for posting.

I second that. Incredible pictures. But the pictures of the rhino and zebra being taken down by the lions hurt to see, however much we know it's the rules of nature.

Now I know that giraffes sit down. How comical!

The NYT yesterday had a front-page article on the epidemic of racing horses being euthanized after being injured on the track. Very disturbing. Mentions, too, jockys being paralyzed by neck injuries. But what bothers me more is the senseless slaughter of innocent animals.

Then, yesterday too, there was an article about a slightly crazy obsessed ex-boxer woman who flies down to Puerto Rico about 5 times a year to rescue starving dogs from "Dead Dog Beach" where people unload their unwanted dogs and litters of puppies. The woman, now a professional poker player, finds homes for them in New York. Valiant, but sadly she barely makes a dent in the population of suffering dogs.

I was a little rattled after reading yesterday's paper!

I saw these pictures in the magazine that comes with El País newspaper

Constance wrote:I second that. Incredible pictures. But the pictures of the rhino and zebra being taken down by the lions hurt to see, however much we know it's the rules of nature.

There's an scene on the documentary Grizzly Man when Grizzly man finds a bear cub arm and holds it and Werner Herzog says Grizzly man seemed to have forgotten about that violence and says that male bears sometimes kill bear cubs to fornicate with the mother

pinhedz wrote:the mama takes cafe of the cubs.

aha... that's where coffee comes from


I didn't know they do that until the other day I saw Grizzly man

Nice pictures but i think these are all made in a software if these are all made by hand then its look become much more attractive.

Ammonite's Night Cameras http://vimeo.com/42611358

Starlight Cameras http://www.ammonite.co.uk/kit-hire/cameras/ammonite-starlight-camera/
They are capable of filming in real time, in starlight, moonlight, or with small amounts of infra red. The images are black and white, and can be grain free (full moon or infra red) or very grainy (starlight).

The amount of grain is a function of the amount of gain that is controlled on all the cameras by a single manual knob. Even in starlight, many of the cameras aren’t at maximum gain, and the quantity of grain is usually removable by noise reduction techniques.

Thermal Camera http://www.ammonite.co.uk/kit-hire/cameras/thermal-camera/
The thermal camera is sensitive to long wave infrared (heat). Capable of detecting heat from mammal bodies up to six miles away, the thermal is a powerful tool for spotting, filming and navigation. The camera’s sensitivity can be manually adjusted to detect specified temperature ranges that allow the operator to record temperature variations and subsequently image detail to 0.1 degrees Celsius.