Vignettes of the wild

Rare moments of life in the forests of the Western Ghats captured by a dedicated wildlife enthusiast.

HORRIBLE, hairy, human, with paws like hands in prayer. Anyone who reads this line about a bear in a poem by Rudyard Kipling gets a vivid image. The celebrated author of The Jungle Book could not have been more visual when he used these words to describe the terrible beauty' of a Himalayan black bear he had sighted. Moments like this are any wildlife photographer's envy.

Wildlife photography is creative, a subtle manifestation of the great ecological bonds between human beings and animals and nature. A well-framed photo of an animal could be a poetical essay. Each and every bird and animal has its unique feature and special character, especially its body language which is attractive, says the eminent photographer T.N.A. Perumal.

According to him, a good wildlife photograph is one that portrays the animal best in its own habitat, living its natural life. Capturing its movements, character and mood with good composition, colour fidelity, lighting, tonal rendition and tonal harmony makes it infinitely better, he says.

The late M. Krishnan has captured vivid images of the sloth bear with his lens and pen. The sloth bear is distinctive of all our forest animals. It is dim-sighted and wholly engrossed in its continuous search for food. If a man is found nearby, it gets panicky, he wrote.

One man who has not hidden his fascination for photographing the fluttering variety in colour is Salim Ali. When black-and-white photographs, which dominated the scene until then, gave way to enthralling colour photos, the legendary ornithologist said: Wildlife photography in colour aided with the zoom lens and other modern equipment has revolutionised wildlife watch. The photographs he took of birds and animals showing their different behavioural traits have left indelible impressions on the viewer.

Jim Corbett, the British hunter and naturalist after whom a national park in Kumaon in Uttarakhand is named, is known more for the thrilling descriptions he penned about his encounters with man-eating tigers and leopards. One can imagine how the people in the remote Himalayan villages danced to the beating of drums when Corbett shot a man-eater dead. But little known is the fact that he was also a wildlife photographer par excellence.

Shooting the tiger

Perhaps tigers are still the wildlife photographer's delight. Tigers roaming freely like domesticated cats, as they do in the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh and the Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan, is an incredible sight in the wild. Kuttappan, a former mahout in Bandhavgarh, has a huge collection of much sought-after tiger photographs (Frontline, May 12, 1989, and March 30, 1990).

Most tigers here are gentle. Some even pose for photographs. Some appear pensive, while a few others have a marked personal charisma of their own, says Kuttappan, who is an expert in tiger behaviour.

His encounters with the tiger began more than three decades ago. In his early years as an amateur photographer, Kuttappan used an ordinary camera to shoot tigers. The result often was an apology for a photographic work. But hard work and a keen eye for tiger behaviour made him the author of many internationally acclaimed tiger photographs. Some of them, like that of a tiger peeping, human-like, through blades of grass in the wind or that of a big cat in slumber, are sheer visual delights.

Kuttappan quotes the conservationist Billy Arjan Singh to describe tiger traits: The eyes of the tiger are the brightest of any animal in the world. At dusk, or in the beam of a torch, they blaze back the ambient light with awe-inspiring intensity. It would be a tragedy and dereliction of duty if we allowed that magical light to burn out.

Valmik Thapar, the author of many books on the tiger and the producer of one of the most fascinating films on the snow leopard, has said that the different moods of the tiger have always captivated him. One cannot resist the fascination of watching the mother tiger fondling the cubs. What a marvellous experience it is in the wild! he says.

Most enthusiasts have telling experiences of their moments in the wild. Wildlife photographer N.A. Naseer narrates one such experience. On February 19 this year, Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests, was to declare the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary the 38th tiger reserve in India. As if the tigers had scented it, 17 days before the function, five of them appeared in the sanctuary at different times. Naseer captured all of them on his camera after waiting patiently for hours. It was an unforgettable experience that five tigers were present near a stream in the Thellikal part of the sanctuary, said Naseer. When the Minister was told of this, he was delighted, said Naseer.

Another of Naseer's prized photographs marks a high point in his career. He had trekked the length and breadth of the Western Ghats for 15 years before he had a chance encounter, at the Pampadumshola National Park near Munnar, Kerala, on January 2, 2009 ( Frontline, March 13, 2009), with the highly elusive civet-like animal, the Nilgiri marten, which is endemic to the region. It was for the first time that the animal was photographed at such close quarters.

Elephants are a visual treat to visitors in most wildlife sanctuaries. Encounters with trumpeting tuskers and sharp-eyed gaurs (Indian bison) in threatening postures can be chilling experiences. Photographs of these and other incredible animals with their bizarre behaviour have always charmed the hearts of wildlife enthusiasts.

Mountain goats (Nilgiri tahr) scale steep rocks with amazing agility. It may be surprising to know that the tahrs in the tourism zone of the Eravikulam National Park in Kerala come close to visitors. Sometimes it appears that they are trying to snatch every chance to hobnob with the visitors and be photographed. But the tahrs in the core area of the sanctuary are shy of strangers.

Lion-tailed macaque

The Silent Valley and the Nelliyampathy forest tracts in Palakkad district of Kerala are the abode of the lion-tailed macaque, an endangered species endemic to the Western Ghats. Naseer says he has seen some of them sitting on the floor like hermits who are deep in meditation, and some others sitting on the branch of a tree lost in thought!

The lion-tailed macaque has a silver white mane. It makes the animal very photogenic. Its tail, tufted at the end like that of a lion, gives it its distinct name. The animals move about wonderfully on the trees. They jump from one branch to another, walk on two or four limbs, and knuckle-walk, much to the excitement of observers. Acrobatics, quarrels, revelry and the lavish exhibition of love for the young are some of the fascinating behavioural traits of these animals.

Naseer has been following lion-tailed macaques for some time now. He has laboured hard for many days to get a good photograph of the primate. Giji Joseph, whose doctoral thesis was on the ecology and population of lion-tailed macaques, says the animals are shy. They usually withdraw at the sight of human beings. Even if they get familiar with us, they will always keep a distance, he says.

The lion-tailed macaque became a household name during the Silent Valley movement in Kerala more than a quarter century ago. The movement began after the State Electricity Board proposed to build a dam across the Kuntipuzha for power generation. This would have endangered the habitat of many species of plants and animals, including the lion-tailed macaque, which is listed in the Red Data book. Following a huge public outcry, the project was abandoned.

Life in the forest

Death, like life, has its captivating moments in the forest. Predators chase their prey every day. The Nilgiri langurs, sitting on top of trees, watch the drama below. When they see a tiger crouching to pounce on an animal, they send out alarm calls. Its hunt thwarted, the tiger gets angry and frustrated. The langurs then giggle, a rare mood for any wildlife photographer to capture.

It is also not uncommon to find groups of different animals, such as the gaur and the elephant, moving together in the wild. Gaurs are sensitive and alert to human presence. In some sanctuaries, they are used to the movement of jeeps and do not run away. This gives the visitors an opportunity to watch them. Sometimes they withdraw into the interiors of the forest.

The forest, with its predator, prey and alert observer, throbs with life. It is here that nature presents itself in its simplest and most pristine form. Wildlife enthusiasts and photographers with passion, a spirit of adventure, determination and dedication capture interesting moments from the great drama.

G. Shaheed is Chief of News Bureau of Mathrubhumi in Kochi.