I took this one on a recent trip to India. This young male lives in the Gir Forest of western India (pronounced "gear") where I have a conservation project under way.
The lions and other wildlife fall into some of the 9,000+ open pit wells in the region. In the last 2 years over 25 of them have been killed this way. Given that there are only about 350 of these lions left in the wild, all in India, it is a serious problem. Shortly, I will have a nonprofit in place (The Lions of Gir Foundation) to raise money here in the US for erecting barricades around the wells. I'm doing this in conjunction with a nonprofit in India.
In the meantime, I'm very much in awe of these beautiful creatures. This one was photographed at ground level because the guards allowed me to get out of the jeep and sit on the ground. I was able to photograph this lion for almost 30 minutes while he watched us very closely - and I lived to tell the story! :)
Mark III, 500mm+1.4x, 1/320, f/11







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