Metro monkeys in Jodhpur
It was a thrilling moment photographing this female
Hanuman langur leaping with her baby across
a six-metre gap, four storeys high, in Jodhpur, India.
Each morning, we watched a group of 15 bachelor
males pile into the heart of the ‘blue city’ to challenge
the resident alpha male for his territory. The alpha
would often have to chase the bachelors for over
a mile across the rooftops. The reason that this area
is so highly contested is because it’s perhaps one
of the best langur territories in the world. Hindus
associate these primates with the monkey god
Hanuman, and revere them. In the temple gardens,
they’re given all the food they can eat. The alpha
male has sole mating rights with the adult females
in his troop and, because of their energy-rich diet,
they are more fertile than the Hanuman langurs
found in neighbouring forests.
What struck me on this shoot was just how
generous the Indian people are towards wildlife
living in their cities. The reward for them is being
surrounded by wonderful animals.Crafty raccoons in the USA
Raccoons are doing incredibly well in North
American cities. They are well adapted to finding
food in the concrete jungle, and, by being active at
night, they avoid contact with humans. They can
squeeze through small gaps, and have incredibly
dextrous hands. They are also the perfect size for
accessing rubbish bins or opening shed doors.
If you’re too big you are easily noticed, and that’s
why we see medium-sized scavengers, such
as raccoons and foxes, doing so well in our cities.
For me, the most remarkable thing about urban
raccoons is that they are better at solving problems
than their country cousins. A recent study showed
that they are willing to invest more time in trying
different techniques to access food, perhaps
because the rewards in the city can be so rich.
The team saw this on the shoot when they observed
a mother raccoon come back three nights in a row
to try to get into a bird feeder filled with nuts.
It was only on the third night that she succeeded,
but it was worth it!PHOTOS: FREDI DEVAS/BBC, INGO BARTUSSEK/NATUREPL.COM 63 April 2017 April 2017 55