Feast on the Nose
ou look into golden eyes. Only then do you discover the blood-sucking horseflies feasting between them. The crocodile to which the piercing gaze belongs seems unimpressed. Zeke Rowe, a doctoral student at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, won the British Ecological Society's “Capturing Ecology” photo competition with his picture.
Zeke Rowe, a doctoral candidate at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, titled his unusual photograph “Wouldn’t Hurt a Fly.” At first glance, the scene is not immediately apparent, as the small bloodsuckers on the crocodile’s skin are quite difficult to spot. The snapshot of this moment of feasting brought Zeke Rowe good fortune: he won the “Capturing Ecology” photography competition of the British Ecological Society with his image. More than 1,100 photographs were submitted to the competition by ecologists and photographers from around the world.
“I took the photo during a break from my research work in Coiba National Park in Panama. The crocodile was lurking in a tidal marsh near the beach. I got as close and as low as possible and waited for direct eye contact,” Zeke recounts his encounter with the reptile.
Another award-winning image comes from Roberto García Roa.
Another award-winning image comes from Roberto García Roa. He captured a striking photograph at the Sanaga-Yong Sanctuary, a chimpanzee rescue center in the heart of Cameroon. In this remote protected area, a team of technicians and veterinarians examines a patient undergoing long-term rehabilitation after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade.
All the award-winning images can be viewed here:
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/capturing-ecology-2025/
Welcome to Photonworld – a platform for knowledge, interesting facts and science on the topic of light. Photonworld aims to provide a basic understanding of the physics of light and its countless phenomena. From medicine, to art and physics: all topics are covered.
Photonworld originated as an initiative of the excellence cluster the Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP) and the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics (LAP) at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ).
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