scavenger

[Andrew Aveley]

This old female hyena was staring intently at us........just like the expression on the face. to me it reflects the hardship these creature face on a daily basis for survival.

Canon 1 D MK 3 , ISO 400 F 4 , Canon 500 mm F4 1/200th on bean bag and badger gear panning plate

[Hilary Hann]

Andrew, I like this portrait very much. The tonal range and background is very complementary. I think the narrow dof enhances the weatherbeaten look of the hyaena. Glad to see such a nice image of a hyaena posted. They are interesting animals.

[Harshad Barve]

Excellent image , love th use of DOF here
TFS


They are interesting animals.

Definitely , In Mara I have seen one of them trying to hunt WB ,

[Steve Kaluski]

Great portrait of a mean looking animal with interesting warm colour tones overall.

TFS
Steve

[Ken Watkins]

I am not allowed to call these ugly beasts (her indoors), but they are not very pretty:)

The only improvement I can think od would be for both ears to be facing the same direction.

[Marc Mol]

Great use of DOF Andrew, really adding a 3D effect here. Certainly a face only a mother could love!
TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Andrew - a nice portrait of a less photographed predator. Like the detail and comp.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andrew Aveley]

Thank you for your kind comments!:D

[peter delaney]

Hyena

do get undeserved bad press... scavengers ...yes but they are also very prolific hunters and if truth be known they probably kill more than they scavage ... you did well to sex this animal.. I always find it very difficult to tell as their genitalia look the same...

regarding the image... like the crop and angle of shot... agree with Ken on the ears...well done

peter

[Steve Kaluski]

I always find it very difficult to tell as their genitalia look the same... How close do you get Peter?:D

Re the ears, I think having them forward is rather predictable, but you would lose that overall feeling of the image. For me, the hyena is scenting, sniffing, looking behind Andrew as if something has caught his/her attention, but also having the one bent ear she/he is alert listening to what else is going on. I really like it, but again, it's all personal taste and what/how we read into what we see within the image.

Be interested to know Andrews thoughts on it, Andrew?

[Andrew Aveley]

Thanks Steve and Peter. @ Peter, the fact that there were young around the den and that she was lactating helped with the ID;)

Steve, you are very perceptive as to the actions taking place. The ears are important and it shows the intellegence of the animals. The hardship of scavanging most of the time here in the greater kruger area shows on the worn down face and she was indeed paying close attention to the surrounds. I spent some time with this clan and this afternoon and a little later one of the clan appeared in the direction of where the ear is pointing back to. Also there had been earlier that day a large pride of lions about 1.5km behind my vantage point at a water hole that is quite open and is nearly in plain site form the den if you get any slight elevation.

Sometime for me there is more energey in an image like this than there is in seeing one of the more prominent predators in an area ! This is wild africa at its best :) Thanks for taking the time to comment and view my images.