When a whale waves to you. 👋
Ever experienced anything like this?
A 40 tonne humpback whale suspended in the water column in front of us, gently welcoming our curiosity.
Those pec fins she is raising are a third of their her body length - the longest of any cetacean.
Getting the shots on screen right: @harperdammannsmith
#tonga #underwaterphotography #natgeoyourlens #humpbackwhales #oceanscape
There are rare spaces only accessible via the hardiest bush bashes, in the deepest valleys, that have an intangible essence to them.
An essence that stays with you.
Here is one of those hidden locations, that makes the unchartered adventuring all worth it.
A small waterfall - eroded in synchrony with the growth of a ancient and tested tree, appearing as if it is
‘holding back’ the collapse of an entire cliff side with its roots.
#waterfall #forest #naturephotography #waterfall #goldcoast
Sea eagle in training.
White-bellied sea eagles grow fast.
This juvenile is no less than three months old and still in its parent’s territory, but learnt to fly within 85 days from birth.
At the age of four, this individual will have its own airspace and have earnt its stripes - converted from patchy brown, to the iconic black and white these birds of prey are known for.
#natgeobirds #naturephotography #ausgeo #bbcwildlife #wildlifeplanet
20 platypus have been photographed by my camera since I first immersed myself in their tranquil hinterland habitats, just two months ago.
Each encounter has presented its own unique compositions and conditions.
These are three of my favourite images from their world so far, and a timelapse of each edit. ✍️
For those interested:
Around 20 minutes of post-processing was undertaken to convert each image from a noisy low-light snap to a presentable capture of behaviour.
The videos are sped up 3500x.
My subjective editing style is not an exact science.
I love to emphasise specific characteristics from the composition with masks for saturation and light, and crush my shadows for depth and mood - losing myself in the artistic potential of each secondary subject.
🍃
I’ve had many of you ask “where is the best place I can find platypus on the East coast?”, and my best advice is to follow your local conservation initiative’s recommendations.
Choose a deeper, undisturbed creek, ideally toward the mountains, and arrive before sunrise. Stay quiet, low and slow so you don’t disturb them or their habitat - they rely on the tranquility and health of the river to survive!
If you do see a platypus, you can also play a part in conserving for them by recording your encounters for research - just go online and look up “report platypus sighting”!
Scientists are warning that platypus populations are declining in South East Queensland and the trend may extend to wider populations, so every bit of data helps!
#platypus #naturephotography #monotreme #weirdanimals #australia_oz
The greatest dolphins show, off shore of the Gold Coast, Australia.
When pods converge into large groups, their presence is electric - erupting the flat ocean surface with energetic breaches.
#cetacean #widllifeplanet #cinematic #bbcwildlifemagazine #ausgeo
There’s no critter quite like the leopard shark.
As pups they are initially born with monochrome stripes.
By adulthood it’s as if they’ve been through metamorphosis, graduating into bright yellow spotted spectacles!
They are the only known species within their family Stegostomatidae - their closest living relative, more than 7 times larger, being the iconic whale shark.
#leopardshark #seeaustralia #sharksofinstagram #underwaterphotography #paditv
Iron stained outback.
Between my wildlife content capture in North-West Australia I had the pleasure of fitting in some aerial photography.
These images were captured in the Pilbara region. It is sparsely populated, despite being one of the most historical landscapes on Earth - first forming 3.6 billion years ago.
#australiasgoldenoutback #wathedreamstate #ausgeo #natgeoyourshot #landscapephotography
⚠️Content warning: images may be distressing
On Friday March 27th, Tropical Cyclone Narelle hit the coastal town of Exmouth, Western Australia, gateway to UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef.
Local wildlife rescue organisation @balubluefoundation braved the horrendous conditions to locate, rescue and treat affected wildlife, with little-to-no support or resources. Thousands of animals washed up along the coast in critical condition or deceased😔. Entire nests of unhatched turtles were washed away or exposed, seabirds stranded completely exhausted and waterlogged, and dolphins, sea horses and sharks were washed onto the beaches and unable to return to the ocean.💔
Concurrently, Matilda 🚛 was travelling across the Nullarbor Plain to WA as part of our National Tour. On Monday 30th March we made plans to divert to Exmouth to provide vital expert veterinary treatment and care. However, we were left on stand-by in Perth for over a week waiting for government and local authorities to grant us permission to enter the region.
On April 4th, we were finally given the green light to head north to Exmouth. With the generous support 🙏 of private benefactors, our vet team were flown up to provide immediate support and treatment for any cyclone-affected wildlife in care, as well as assisting in on-ground searches for remaining survivors. They were joined 2 days later by “Matilda”, WRA’s mobile vet hospital.
Unfortunately, with so much critical time passing since the cyclone’s impact no affected survivors were found. Along with compassionate volunteers, nature had, however, begun its own clean-up process through natural predators like silver gulls and crabs.❤️🩹
When we launched our National Tour 5 weeks ago, our goal was to advocate 📋 for a National Framework for wildlife, where state and federal governments commit to funding wildlife rescue, treatment and care across the country.
Continued in comments 👇🏽
While we await safe access to Exmouth to support wildlife affected by Cyclone Narelle, our WRA and @byronbaywildlife teams have been spending time in Perth with our friends and consortium partners @wa_wildlife_ .🐦⬛
Yesterday, our teams had the opportunity to visit the WA Wildlife Hospital and meet 👋 some of the facility’s residents, including dingoes, black cockatoos and possums!
Our BBWH veterinary team then performed health checks and treatments 🩺 on some of the facility’s in-care wildlife patients, which included our incredible vet Dr. Jana Schader and vet nurse Chloe Lawrence performing orthopaedic surgery to repair a broken ulna in a galah!🫶
Our team is on stand-by to deploy 🚛 to Exmouth, and we will keep you updated on our movements.
In the meantime, if you would like to donate to help us with the costs of travelling and providing veterinary care to cyclone-affected wildlife, please head to 👉bit.ly/26cyclonerecovery and click “Cyclone Recovery 2026” in the drop-down menu (link in bio).
📸 Alex Forrest @forrestfov
#ForTheWildlife
A behaviour I’ve been surprised to discover within the world of platypus, is that these notoriously shy an cryptic monotremes are actually incredibly curious!
By simply staying as still as possible at the water’s edge, my static movements have made platypus comfortable enough to swim up to me within less than a meter.
Some just coast straight past but others, like the individual pictured, stop for up to 30 seconds right up close, just to get a good look - I wonder what goes through their mind!
These images are by far the most striking example of that curiosity - this platypus stayed awake until the sun cast over its burrow, which made for some sublime lighting.
#platypus #weirdanimals #goldcoast #naturephotography #ausgeo
Moments between the gum trees.
I absolutely adore photographing the emblematic native Australian wildlife. 🐨🦘
No offence to the incredible water birds in this set - but I’ve always wondered what catalyst the popularisation of Australia’s iconic Kangaroos and Koalas.
@nationalmuseumofaustralia traces Kangaroo fame back to the late 1700s.
Once James Cook returned from Australia, the kangaroo featured in exhibitions, artworks and collections - this viewership developed into a great variety of motifs, all inspired by the kangaroo.
The kangaroo’s symbolism was ultimately solidified in 1908, when it appeared on the Australian coat of arms and was recognised as an offical symbol of the nation.
@southerncrossuni decipheres the love for koalas as a more recent development, driven by humanisation.
Initially referred to through a scientific lens, koala opinions changed in the early 1900s when two popular books were published.
Each pushed back on the active fur trade of the time, with anthropomorphic takes on koalas - these greatly subscribed to books were: The Magic Pudding & Sungglepot and Cuddlepie.
Each work catalyst a public outrage against the hunting of Australia’s innocent eucalyptus eaters.
Ultimately, the koala became highly favoured; assisted by their appeal to emerging tourism markets, photography and many other iconic books.
Beyond all of these happenings, each marsupial has long been appreciated by First Peoples in Dreamtime stories and art.
#australianwildlife #kangaroo #koala #wildlifephotography #australianhistory
