Some helpful tips to be an ethical wildlife photographer

 

Wildlife photography is an essential tool to inspire the desire to protect wildlife. It has the power to turn people on to the wonder of nature. But we must remember to put the welfare of the subject first. Even though there are no clear guidelines a few basic principles that can help make the way clearer.

·         Know the signs of the stress of your subject species – There is always a stress for the animals when we flock around their natural feeding and gathering places but we have to be very aware of our effects so that it can be minimized.

·         Take special care at breeding season – Special care needs during this season. We have to avoid actions that might result in driving parents away from the young allowing them more vulnerable to predators.

·         Not to destroy or alter the habitat for a better view or scene.

·         Do not feed wildlife for a better shot and honor their wildness.

·         Be transparent on how a photograph was made

Build your reputation as a wildlife photographer by doing it in a more responsible manner.

Why you should not feed wild animals?

 

Feeding wildlife can lead to cause a number of serious problems.

 

They do not need food from humans to survive, and that food is not healthy for them. They have specialized diets and they can become malnourished or die if fed wrong foods. Also animals cannot distinguish food from wrappers or foil and can get sick eating these items.

 

Increase the chances of disease transmission by gathering too many animals in one place. Also it will lead to unnecessary crowding and competition and increase the chances of having fights and injuries among animals.

 

Lose the natural fear of humans and can be aggressive. Once they learn that they can panhandle for food they can become a nuisance. This is a common problem in Sri Lanka as most of the people feed wild elephants on roadside cause to lead attacks and Toque Macaques has become a nuisance in most of the places because of human feeding.

 

Increase the chances of road accidents as they tend to stay near the road.

Toque Macaque - Macaca sinica sinica ශ්‍රී ලංකා රිලවා

By enforcing dominance hierarchies among both males and females, Toque macaque society is very structured.Changes in the composition in troops are normally done by the females. Wild living Toque Macaques like to eat flowers, insects while their main dietary preference is fruit.
#toquemacaques

Sri Lanka Giant Squirrel - Ratufa Macroura ශ්‍රී ලංකා දඩුලේනා

Sri Lanka Giant Squirrel is the National Animal of Sri Lanka.This animal is active mostly during the cooler part of the day mean from dawn to about 9am in the morning and from about 4pm to until dusk in the evening. There are three sub species has identified in Sri Lanka. They are Ratufa Macroura Macroura (Distribution - from the highest peaks to the down about 1200 m), Ratufa Macroura Dandolena (Distribution - Dry Zone lowlands), and Ratufa Macroura Melanochra (Distribution - Low country wet zone, The Kelani River Valley, Sinharaja Rain Forest, and forested parts of Kalutara, Galle, and Matara districts). #Squirrels #Wildlife #Adventure

Palm Squirrel