Caption: Male ostrich (Struthio camelus) on the move, Okavango Delta area, Botswana.

If you’ve ever been puzzled by the question, “Which is the largest living bird in the world?”, the picture above provides the answer: the ostrich of course!

While the ostrich can’t fly, it’s equipped with powerful thighs and long legs that can propel it along the ground at speeds up to 70 km/h (about 44 mph) over short distances, and over longer distances at around 60 km/h (37 mph). The male is predominantly black with white wing tips and tail (as above), while the female is a more uniform grey/brown color.

Caption: Burchell's Zebra (Equus quagga) close-up, photographed in the Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve, KZN, South Africa.

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel (EOS 350D); Lens: Canon EF 80-200mm F/2.8 telephoto zoom; Focal Length: 80mm; Shutter Speed: 1/200; Aperture: f4; ISO: 400

Are you puzzled by the zebra’s stripes? Did you know that, like human fingerprints, each zebra individual has a unique stripe pattern?

To find out more about zebra, their behaviour, diet and reproduction, see Zebra Information. See also African Buffalo Information to read more about these big animals that resemble cattle but are notorioulsy ill-tempered and extremely dangerous.

If you’re looking for the ideal Christmas gift — one that’s inexpensive, visually appealing, useful and will last for a full 12 months — then you should consider a 2011 wildlife or nature calendar.

Captivating images of wild animals, birds, butterflies, and landscapes have universal appeal, so it’s difficult to go wrong when choosing a calendar showcasing these subjects.

For an outstanding selection of wildlife and nature calendars, please see 2011 Wildlife Calendars.

There are thousands of wildlife videos on YouTube. Nowdays virtually everyone who goes on safari or visits a game park carries some form of camera that can shoot video, so it’s not surprising that so many are shared on the Web. If you enjoy watching wildlife videos, the problem of course is sorting the gems from the junk.

Fortunately someone has done the hard work and “collected the 50 coolest wildlife videos on YouTube. From birth to death, they show the true circle of life, while getting in some laughs and tears as well”. See 50 Coolest Wildlife Videos On YouTube and enjoy!

This picture of a large Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus), one of Africa’s most fearsome animals, was taken from the water while on a photographic cruise along the Zambezi River in Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park.

The park offers a compelling variety of activities for those on safari, including game drives, bush walks, canoe trips, tiger fishing, and photographic cruises. For more, see Safari Lower Zambezi and Zambia Safari Pictures.

The Zambezi River is renowned for the large numbers of hippos that inhabit its waters. You’ll often hear it said that “hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal”, although there doesn’t appear to be any hard evidence to back this up.

Safari guide Roddy Smith, who’s been working for more than 25 years in the Lower Zambezi and has had numerous close encounters with wild animals, is one who disagrees – see his fascinating articles Hippo’s Bad Reputation and Africa’s Most Dangerous for the inside story from someone who’s most definitely been there, done that.

This tiny but beautiful bird is the Little Bee-Eater (Merops pusillus), seen here perched on a reed stem along the banks of the Zambezi River in Zambia.

For more about this bee-eater and details of how the photograph was taken from a boat on the river, see Little Bee-Eater Perched on Reed Stem.

 

When photographing wild animals, a telephoto lens is essential as you can’t normally get close enough to use a standard or wide angle lens because:

a) it’s too dangerous getting close to animals like big cats, elephants, hippos, buffalos and others;
b) you’re in the animal’s habitat and it’s not good to unduly disturb or agitate wild animals.

If you’re on foot, you’ll definitely want to keep your distance, so will need a powerful telephoto lens to fill the frame. When walking in the bush it’s also difficult using a tripod, as you have to cart it with you and you’ll usually not have the time to set it up — which means hand-holding the camera and lens.

If you’re photographing from a game drive or safari vehicle, you can get closer to animals, but again will find it difficult using a tripod from within the vehicle. This once more will require hand-holding of the camera.

Fortunately many of today’s prime and zoom telephoto lenses have image stabilization (or vibration reduction), making them easier to hand-hold. Cameras from Olympus and Sony use in-camera technology to counter camera shake, rather than including the technology in their lenses.

See Canon IS Lenses a Boon for Wildlife Photography to find out more about Canon’s IS technology and why it’s of such benefit to wildlife photographers.