Flehmen's grimace

[Hendri Venter]

Cats have a specialized organ for detecting scent called the Jacobson's organ, located in the roof of the mouth, and when using this organ, they exhibit a facial expression called "flehmen". The flehmen response is most often exhibited by both males and females where other cats have marked their territory by spraying scent.

The Jacobson's Organ is not confined to felids, it is found in some other mammals, including a few bats, and in all snakes. The face-pulling effect seen in tigers and other cats does not occur in snakes; tongue-flicking is the equivalent action.

Captured in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

Canon 1D MK IV
Canon 600 F4 IS
ISO 640
F8
1/1250 sec
-0.3 EC
Aperture Priority

[Todd Frost]

Nice behavioral image Hendri. We get to see this response in elk, deer, sheep etc... but would be very cool to see in the big cats in person. Nice that you were able to get a pair in same pose. Light looks a bit harsh but handled well. Well done.
TFS
Todd

[Robert Amoruso]

Hendri,

Thanks for the natural history lesson and excellent image demonstrating the behavior. I like it when photoraphers provide such interesting background information.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the detailed info, Hendri - it's sure to be informative to a lot of our members
can't believe you got them doing it simultaneously! excellent...the light is also exquisite...

[Harshad Barve]

Thanks for info and excellent image too
TFS

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Hendri, very nice shot of the two young male lions with enough DOF to get them both sharp. Rest of the image looks pretty good to me too. One question, what was your reasoning behind the -1/3 stop EC?
cheers
Grant

[Stu Bowie]

Cool behavioural capture mate, and something I didnt know. :)

[Hendri Venter]

Thanks all. Your viewing and comments appreciated.