Fascinating Images of Northern Tanzanian Petrified Animals by Photographer Nick Brandt

Medusa's favourite lake would no doubt be the one located in Northern Tanzania. A rare phenomenon caused by the chemical makeup of the lake petrifies creatures creating macabre but fascinating statues.

Nick Brandt's new book, Across the Ravaged Land, features the images of petrified creatures that were found in areas around  Lake Natron which due to its constant pH of 9 to 10.5 (an extremely basic alkalinity ) preserves these creatures for eternity. [via Gizmodo]

"I unexpectedly found the creatures - all manner of birds and bats - washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania. No-one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake. The water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds. The soda and salt causes the creatures to calcify, perfectly preserved, as they dry. I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were. Reanimated, alive again in death."  ~ Nick Brandt

© Nick Brandt

 Calcified Fish Eagle© Nick Brandt

 © Nick Brandt

 © Nick Brandt

Calcified swallow © Nick Brandt

 Calcified Bat© Nick Brandt

© Nick Brandt

Portraits of Endangered Bengal Tigers

Dr Bhagavan Antle of The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S), photographs 4 varieties of Bengal tigers

 "Most people do not realize that we are in the midst of a mass extinction that is affecting every living thing on this planet. We are losing up to a dozen species of plant and animal every day. This rate is far faster than when the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. A stunningly beautiful animal like a tiger captures people's attention so they become more willing to learn about critical conservation issues. Tigers are an important living example of the environmental problems facing the world, which makes them the perfect wildlife ambassadors. Wild tigers are currently on the brink of extinction. Due to rampant habitat destruction and poaching we may be losing a tiger a day."  Dr Antle

Polar Bear Tries to Eat Photographer.... To No Avail

Cameraman Gordon Buchanan endured 45-minute attack from hungry female bear who wanted to feed her cubs.

'I've never been terrified 

for 40 minutes 

before' ~ Buchanan

This is the terrifying moment a wildlife cameraman comes face-to-face with a deadly 1,000lb polar bear looking for its next meal. The hungry eight-foot predator repeatedly attacks the safety perspex box - the on-ice equivalent of a shark cage - housing helpless Gordon Buchanan like a tasty human piñata.
[via daily mail uk]



This is the moment that wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan came face to face with a hungry polar bear in Svalbard, in the northern-most region of Arctic Norway, for his three-part BBC series The Polar Bear Family and Me


"fee fie foe fum, I smell the blood of a Scotsman." ~ P. Bear.







'Without a doubt, she wanted me for lunch': Gordon Buchanan's reinforced perspex pod protected him

The female bear, with its powerful paws and giant teeth, was trying to get hold of the 40-year-old so she could feed herself and her two young cubs.

Mr Buchanan, who has filmed the world’s deadliest creatures for 20-years, described the ordeal as his scariest ever experience.

He said: 'A lot of people think that carnivores are intrinsically dangerous but most aren’t - there’s a minimal risk and attacks are the exception. 'But polar bears are different, without a doubt she wanted me for lunch. She was so persistent, looking for a weak spot for almost 45 minutes.

'I was terrified and you could hear my heartbeat on the mic. It really was a sensational moment and a worrying situation.

'It shows how enormous and powerful they are.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2257088/Starving-polar-bear-attacks-BBC-cameraman-pod-Arctic-Norway.html#ixzz2H2SduBrp 





Incredible footage shows the photographer just a perspex cage away from polar bear's attack.