Celebrate Wild @ Great Bear Coffee Shop
Photos on display: August 1-31, 2021
Meet the Artist: Sunday, August 14, 9-11 
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Orangutan on University Island

Wistful

Flange Face

Borneo

 

Did you know orangutans can’t swim? They have high body densities and can't help but sink. Note his large flanges: or flappy cheek-pads. Fully mature males are also twice the size of females and grow large throat sacs, all of which are characteristics associated with dominance. This male was held captive for over a year before The Orangutan Foundation rescued him from a mining camp that had destroyed his jungle habitat in Borneo. In these photos, he had been nursed back to health and was turned out on University Island to prove he can build his daily nests and forage for food before being released back into his natural habitat. These photos were taken in 2020 when I was traveling with Orangutan Odysseys. Here, our boat had sidled up next to his island to observe him eating. As we watched him, he watched us. Orangutan means “person of the forest.” In these photos, you can see why. 

 

Ellie Peace, Midlife Crisis, and Hi-Lo Ellie

Kruger National Park, South Africa

 

Did you know elephants are well-known for their intelligence, close family ties, and social complexity? Here, in Kruger National Park in South Africa, a young female kept herself between her baby and the humans, warning us not to get too close. I was so happy to have my 600 mm lens with me! 

 

And in this photo, the elephants paraded right by our jeep, marching heartily along paying attention to us from a safe distance. In 2019 in South Africa's largest protected area, the Kruger National Park, the elephant population is just under 20 000.

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Bobcat Luncheon, Saratoga, California

 

Did you know that bobcats most commonly prey on rabbits, birds, small game and rodents, but they can kill prey much bigger than themselves (up to eight times their own weight)? In this photo, I was hiking in the hills of Saratoga when I happened upon a bobcat who had just caught his lunch. While I debated saving the squirrel, I decided to let the bobcat enjoy his lunch as I shot a few pictures and moved along my way.

 

Grass Coyote and Dressage Coyote, Saratoga, California

 

Did you know that coyotes yip, bark and howl to communicate, as well as spreading scents and making faces? Here, these coyotes often show up in Saratoga Hills at dusk to frolic and scrounge for dinner. They are excellent scavengers. These photos were taken at Garrod Farms, a winery and horse boarding facility that borders Fremont Older Open Space Preserve. 

 

Sticky Tongue,

Yelapa, Mexico

 

Did you know It is a common sight in Yelapa, Mexico to see a person holding an iguana, encouraging tourists to pose for a photo with it? Keep in mind: what is at risk for the animal that is forced to pose for selfies with humans. Please reconsider taking a photo with any wild animal. Instead, appreciate from a distance and respect their wildness! Here, in the jungle, this wild iguana stuck his tongue out from afar!

 

Zebra

Kruger National Forest

 

Did you know Zebras stripes are unique like fingerprints? Did you know that a herd or a group of zebras is called a dazzle? Zebras tend to live in sociable family groups, and their stripes help camouflage them.

 

Wild Horses

Idaho Holding Facility

 

Did you know that the wild mustangs are at odds with cattle ranchers over land rights and resource usage? Ranchers insist that unchecked propagation of wild horses overruns the sagebrush landscape that their cattle graze on and share with various native and migratory animals and birds. At the same time, wild horse supporters push back against cattle ranchers’ powerful economic interests. Tensions over the management and allocation of resources in these regions run high. As the Bureau of Land Management uses helicopters to round up wild mustangs, place them in holding pens and put them up for adoption. You, the public, could be paid $1000 to adopt one. These two wild mustangs were photographed in Idaho at a holding facility, and were waiting to be adopted out.