Adventures Among Ants - a Brief Book Review.

Last year I had the great privilege to meet Dr. Mark Moffett, one of the world's leading researchers of ants when he came to speak to my students. He was one of the  most personable and exciting (and excited!) scientists I have ever met. His stories of life among  ants mesmerized my students and left them aching for more. In short, Mark made ants interesting and exciting to boys who usually saw them as little more than a backyard nuisance.

Image © 2010 David Kennerly

Mark recently released his latest book, "Adventures Among Ants - A Global Safari With a Cast Of Trillions" and I wrote a brief review for Amazon .com which I am sharing here as well. Mark's work and photography is absolutely amazing. If you are looking for a read that encompasses, science, adventure, war, labor relations, sex, slavery, and all the drama to be found in a mega society - this is your book! 

• To visit Mark's blog you can click HERE.
• Mark's main website is HERE
• Mark's recent interview  with the LA Times is HERE

Adventures Among Ants - A Review

Adventures Among Ants is a very exciting book to me as a middle school biology teacher. In our modern world, most of the significant discoveries in the life sciences are made by teams working in university and corporate labs. While very important, the thrill of modern scientific discovery rarely makes its way down to the young, budding scientists in middle school. As a result, we see fewer and fewer students getting interested in science careers because they seem sterile to the 12-year-old mind.

Mark Moffett and this unique book help to reverse this trend. Mark and his style of sharing his research recalls a time when scientific discovery carried with it an air of exuberance and excitement. When you read this book, you care about the ant societies Mark chronicles and he helps you see the connections to our own societal triumphs and foibles.

In the modern world where young people with an "exploratory mindset" may feel that there are few "blank spaces left on the map", a person like Mark Moffett comes along and helps them see that the remaining "blank spaces" are still there just perhaps a bit more subtle than they were in the great age of exploration.

As an informational source, Adventures Among Ants is great, but It's greater value to science lies in its ability to inspire future scientists to embark upon adventures among their own interests. As such, it follows in the great tradition of works such as Jane Goodall's "in the Shadow of Man", Dian Fossey's "Gorillas in the Mist", or Richard Preston's "The Hot Zone". Due to its inspirational quality, I have added Adventures Among Ants to my recommended reading list.

Simply put, this book will change lives!

John S. Mead  May 29, 2010

The Lion King

This image I call "The Lion King" because of his obvious regal stature and his iconic pose. I took this photo in the Chobe River National Park in Botswana in July of 2006 while on safari. The Chobe area was a real haven for wildlife and especially lions! Over the course of 3 days we saw more than a dozen different lions at all times of the day and night. This morning happened to be my last at Chobe and I was happy to enjoy whatever nature was going to offer up to us that day. Our blood began to boil a bit when our intrepid and amazing ranger, Willie heard lions moaning & grunting in the predawn darkness. Amazingly, he could hear them several minutes before we became aware of them.


As we drew closer (within a mile or so)we could hear a clear baritone "call & response" between two male lions. It was a mix of sounds that ranged between a deep moan and a series of "huffs" almost as if one of the lions was trying to clear his throat. Willie informed us this was two large males who were the Alpha male of the pride and his brother and the #2 in command. They were separated overnight and were grunting to each other to clarify their locations to each other and to the rest of the pride.


We first came across the brother, who I think of as the "Lion Prince". The Prince was obviously not the leader of this group as he was clearly scarred up and had gotten the brunt of previous battles with other males (mostly his brother). Like most of the lions I encountered, he was seemingly oblivious to our safari jeep and continued calling for his brother even as we were within 25 yards of him. Almost close enough to smell his breath!


Having located him, we could then follow his brother's sounds. This led up about three quarters of a mile to the grasses near the river's edge. Here we we greeted with the warm light of dawn and two lions! The Lion King in all his regal splendor and his favored lady - dubbed the Lion Queen. Upon seeing the two of them together, you could see that they were the "IT" couple of this pride of lions. They looked like a Hollywood couple - the "Brangelina" of Chobe National Park. Both seemed to be without the scars you'd expect of lions who have risen to dominate their pride.Indeed, you could say they looked almost too perfect! Needless to say, I was not complaining as I was able to capture some of my favorite lion portraits with those two.


When I came up the the idea of "Blue Lion Photos" I knew this had to be my mascot and thus a little Photoshop work and he became the official "Blue" Lion.

Many thanks to those who supported my image, "Harbinger of Spring" as it took Honorable Mention in the Photography Skills contest on Facebook this past week. The contest theme was "Orange".

Contest update......

Thought I'd take a moment and update you  on how the Wiley contest seems to be going. As of today, the link below lists the most popular photos of the more than 570 they have received.  To make it easier to find and vote on my images use this link which narrows the number of  photos down to less than 80. I'm incredibly thankful for all the support and comments  my images have  already received. All eight of my entries are currently  in the top 80.

If you have not had a chance to vote yet, please consider doing so as I expect other image s will get a burst of support as the public aspect of the contest winds down at the end of the month.

Most Popular Photos in the Wiley contest.....

Thanks again! I hate begging for votes, but y'all have really come through so far!

A Little Help From My Friends

Last night I entered several of my photos in a photo contest sponsored by Wiley Books (they publish both travel & photography books) . The contest has two parts.... Part one involves visitors to the website voting (thumbs up style) for their favorite photos. Part two involves a panel of judges who select the winners from among the top vote getters.

I'd appreciate it if you'd visit the gallery site

http://wileyphotochallenge4.smugmug.com/Smugization/Gallery/11694161_akABK

and consider voting  for my images. To vote, you click on the thumbnail of my image & then mouse over the larger version on the right of the page. You should  then see a green "thumbs up" icon which you can click.  You can also add a comment  which rates the photo as "5 stars". The photos with the most "Thumbs up" votes and "5 star" comments move on in 2 weeks. Currently all of my images are on the initial page, but that may change as more folks enter the competition.

I really appreciate your time and effort on my behalf!  The images I have posted there are shown below so you can recognize them.

"BLUEBONNET SKY"

"MORMON ROW"

"THE TETONS FROM SCHWABACHER'S LANDING"

"LIVE OAK ALLEE"

"THE REMARKABLES"

"BLUEBONNET POLLINATION"


"LAST LIGHT ON THE SOUTHERN ALPS"


"SUBSIDING SNOWSTORM"

Please feel free to encourage  your friends and family to participate as well ;-)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

In honor of Mother's day today I want to share some of my images of mothers and their children. In the animal world, moms work tirelessly to provide for their offspring in a myriad of ways. From providing food, to teaching the basics of hunting (or how to avoid being hunted!), to comforting after a "boo boo", to tucking one in a bedtime, animal moms really get minimal rest (kind of like many human moms!). Both of the images I'm sharing today reflect the 24/7 nature of moms needing to be both wary and supportive to their youngsters.

The first image was taken in Botswana at the Chobe National Park. The herd of elephants had been spending most of this mid winter afternoon in the water and had just emerged as they were getting ready to head away from the river to begin their late day foraging. While elephants are not hunters, they are among the most aggressive of all the animals I encountered on my safaris. In this image you can see that "Junior" is rather oblivious to my presence, but mom is clearly aware of me and her extended ears are a definite sign that she does not take my presence lightly. Thankfully, the ear flap was all she did as she hustled Junior out of harm's way.

This second photo is of a Chacma baboon mother carrying her youngster on her back. Both were clearly tired as there had been a lot of excitement in the baboon troop that day with the nearby presence of a pride of lions. Since lions are one of the most prominent of baboon predators the troop was hyper vigilant and on edge until the lions moved away when a herd of Impala presented themselves as a better hunting opportunity. I call this image "Tuckered Out" as it reflects that total exhaustion that children have when they've had a day full of new adventures and just need mom to carry then off to bed. Indeed this little guy barely moved at all as mom trundled across the savannah with him holding tight to her back.

In homage & respect to all the wonderful moms out there... HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! Thanks for all you've done for your loved ones over the years!

Three of a Kind

Click in the image to see a high resolution version. 

This photo, "Three of a Kind" is currently the most popular photo at Blue Lion Photos. Several years ago when the school where I teach was preparing to demolish the main building as part of a large campus face lift, students found these three bunnies "abandoned" in the grass of the main quad. Being a science teacher, I was quickly brought over to help. To our dismay, mother rabbit was not around and I knew the odds of these three surviving without her were slim at best. Another teacher and I gathered then up so they would not be accidentally stepped on as they were literally inches off a main pathway. As we were moving them by hand from the quad grass to a box someone had fetched, I took this image. I love what it says about the power of humanity. These hands have the ability to make or break the lives of these little fellows. It seems a nice metaphor for our relationship with all life on Earth. Do we act as protectors or destroyers......that question confronts us as a species on a daily basis.

We were lucky enough to encounter mother rabbit a few hours later and she and her litter were relocated to a spot away from any dangers posed by the impending construction of two new school buildings on the quad where they had been found. In the end. all was well with these adorable lil' bunnies.

Welcome!

Greetings & welcome to the Blue Lion Blog! This is the companion site to BlueLionPhotos.com. It will be the place where I can share stories and thoughts behind my images. I plan to share an image or two each week as well as debut some of my newer images here for your enjoyment.

I also see this blog as a place to explore my evolving ideas about my photography and where it may be headed in the months and years to come. Since I am interested in how others interpret my images, please bookmark this blog and come back to visit again soon!

Thanks for stopping by!
John