NHM JAN.qxp__ 10/01/2017 11:35 Page 1
FEATURE EVENTS S
ENTWINED D LIVES © TIM LAMAN
Caapturing the naatural world world The Wildlife Wildlife fe Photographer of the Year Year exhibition exhibition is now open p at a the Natural Historyy Museum, London. The 100 inspiring images tell the story of Earth’s wildlifee,, from intimate portraits to vast landscapess..
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his year’s grand title winning image, Entwined wined lives (above), was taken by field biologist and photojournalist ist T Tim im Laman. The young male orangutan’s face shot from above gives a new perspective on the storryy of Bor Bornean organuatans, and is a reminder of both the beauty and fragility of the natural world. The backdrop is the rich rainforest of the Gunung Palung l Park, in West West Kalimantan, one of o the few protected tan strongholds in Indonesian Borneo. Bor The orangutan eturned to feast on the crop off figs. He has a mental of the likely fruiting trees in hiis huge range, and he already feasted here.
Tim knew w he would retur return and, more important, that there was no way to reach h the top – no route through the canopy – other than up the tree. But hee had to do three days of climbing up and down, by rope, to place in position sition several GoPro cameras that he could trigger remotely to give him a chance of not only a wide-angle view of the forest below but also a view iew of the orangutan’s face from above. This shot was the one he had long visualised, looking down on the orangutan within its forest home. e. Entwined d lives is just one of a set of T Tim’s im’s images documenting the plight of thee organutan that is included in this year’s exhibition. W Wild ild orangutans face a crisis of habitat loss due to agriculture and logging. Combined with increased poaching for the illegal pet trade their future is uncertain. See the 100 award-winning images at the W Wildlife ildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition Year ition at London’s Natural Historryy Museum until 10 September 2017. THE DET TAILS AILS For details and to book tickkets ets visit nhm.ac.uk/wpy
Protecting their remaining habitat is critical for for ora orangutans angutans to survive survive.. If we want to preserve a great ape that retains its vast vast culturally transmitted knowledge w of how to survive ve in the rainfforest orest and the full ricchness hness of wild orangutan behaviourr,, we need to protect orangutans in the wild, now 33 62 JJAA NN U AURA YR 2 0Y127 0 1 7
TIM LAMAN L