Photographing Adorable Arctic Fox Cubs Emerging From Their Dens

JUL 26, 2022
ANETE LUSINA

Wildlife and landscape photographer Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove traveled to a remote area of Iceland in the hopes of finding and photographing arctic fox cubs which are known to leave their dens around this time of the year.

Preparing for the Search

For the Belgian-born and now Iceland-based photographer and guide, no adventure is too much of a challenge if there is a possibility to capture unique nature or wildlife photos. He has put his skills to test in extreme conditions, from capturing the very heart of an erupting volcano to visiting Greenland in sub-zero temperatures.

This time, Van Nieuwenhove spent a few days in Hornstrandir, a remote area in the Westfjords of Iceland, looking for arctic fox cubs emerging from the safety of their dens. The idea for the trip came from a friend who had been to the area a few years before and had seen several arctic fox cubs playing around.

“This really piqued my interest because I love photographing arctic foxes and had never seen cubs,” Van Nieuwenhove tells PetaPixel. “In most areas in Iceland, the foxes are really shy and it’s very difficult to find out where they might have their dens.”

Hornstrandir, Iceland

Because of its remote location, Hornstrandir is not a place travelers can visit on a whim, which is why Van Nieuwenhove only got to visit it this year. He had to make sure he is well-equipped to be all alone and without any phone signal. Bad weather can be particularly dangerous because the area has no shelter.

“I spent a lot of time looking at how other people prepared for such trips and listened to recommendations from my friends and other Icelanders who had been to the area,” Van Nieuwenhove says as he recalls planning his journey. “I find the key to success is to talk and listen to the locals.”

Before his trip, he bought a satellite communicator for emergencies along with an emergency shelter. Figuring out what gear to bring was difficult — Van Nieuwenhove didn’t want to not have enough equipment but at the same time hiking up and down the mountains with a heavy kit was not appealing either. Van Nieuwenhove knew the hikes will be rough and often with steep terrain, so careful planning was a must.

Exploring Iceland in Solitude

When Van Nieuwenhove first arrived, he says the feeling was incredible. Knowing he was the only person out there put things into perspective and made him feel small in the face of the rugged, wild landscape.

“I also found it so refreshing to be away from everything,” he says. “Especially on my third day there I found it incredible. I didn’t see anyone the whole day. The only living beings I saw on that day were the foxes.”

It took three days for Van Nieuwenhove to capture the kind of shots he was looking for. All of the preparation and effort that went in to get to this point made him feel ecstatic.

“I didn’t dare to think I would get that close to them in the first place,” Van Nieuwenhove says. “When the day became even better after several more encounters, I just felt so fulfilled. It’s the best feeling to be saturated after reaching your photography goal.”

More of Van Nieuwenhove’s work can be found on his website, Instagram, and YouTube Channel.

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Image credits: Photos by Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove.

How Nat Geo’s Gorgeous ‘Stonehenge Revealed’ Cover Photo Was Shot

JUL 25, 2022
JARON SCHNEIDER

Sunset brings peace but not quiet to Stonehenge, which is bordered by a busy highway. “One thing that was jarring, even at night, was the constant noise of nearby traffic,” says photographer Reuben Wu. “I found myself imagining how the place would have felt thousands of years ago.” | Reuben Wu/National Geographic; image made with 13 layered exposures

National Geographic’s August Issue Stonehenge Revealed features a spectacular photo of the iconic 5,000-year-old structures captured using aerial lighting thanks to drone accessibility granted only to the magazine.

The photo comes 100 years after National Geographic published an image of the destination back in 1922, photographed by plane:

An aerial view of the relics located at Stonehenge. | Public Domain Image by Central Aerophoto Co. LTD

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The focus on Stonehenge this time includes imagery no one else has ever captured. Photographer Reuben Wu photographed the giant stones with a powerful light attached to a drone to capture multiple exposures of a scene.

National Geographic says this is a first for Stonehenge that resulted in layered images and the creation of truly otherworldly pictures. Nat Geo has also created an immersive high-res 3D model of Stonehenge, using more than 7K images of the site from all angles.

Wu, who had been in touch with National Geographic’s Director of Photography Sarah Leen for about a year, was approached for the assignment to photograph Stonehence and other neolithic monuments for a future story, using the drone lighting technique he started using in 2016, he tells PetaPixel

One of the world’s iconic monuments, Stonehenge has been studied for centuries. Yet new technologies, says archaeologist Vince Gaffney, are “transforming our understanding of ancient landscapes—even Stonehenge, a place we thought we knew well.” | Reuben Wu/National Geographic; image made with 11 layered exposures

“As one of the most photographed landmarks in the world, I knew I had to show Stonehenge in a way it has never been seen before. Like my Lux Noctis project, the stones are lit from above by a powerful light, attached to a drone,” he explains.

“I love the idea of ’terrestrial chiaroscuro’, where I’m able to bring out texture and contrast by using very specific angles of light using the drone light. It allows me much more control over a scene than simply waiting and hoping for natural daylight,” Wu continues.

“With this kind of lighting, I was able to bring a new, unfamiliar atmosphere to the monument, one that felt timeless, and spoke to the potency and ancient history of the site.”

While Wu has photographed many scenes with this technique, Stonehenge was different for a number of reasons.

“There is a strong attachment to Stonehenge because it’s such a household name, especially for so many in the U.K. Many of us took rainy school field trips there in our childhood. But because of this familiarity, the perceived image of Stonehenge has always felt a little unremarkable over the years. This project presented an opportunity for me to make the monument look remarkable and extraordinary,” he says.

A sprawling ceremonial complex in its day, Stanton Drew boasted timber circles, two avenues of standing stones leading to the nearby River Chew, and one of the largest stone rings in Britain, some 370 feet in diameter. Today 26 stones remain, and ground-penetrating radar has revealed nine rings of timber posts. | Reuben Wu/National Geographic; image made with 18 layered exposures

“We had to gain permission from the English Heritage, the Royal Air Force, and my drone pilot Zac Henderson had to pass U.K. drone pilot exams to make all of this possible. And because Stonehenge is inside military airspace, we had to call the RAF to let them know each time we were about to fly the drone.”

Even after he and his pilot were set legally, the challenges did not stop there.

“We knew the UK weather was going to be a concern, especially because you can’t fly drones in the rain or wind. This meant that we spent long hours working on location and many days waiting for the weather to improve. Luckily, we were able to photograph the cover image during a beautiful sunset and a clear starry night,” Wu says.

“You can see that the light from my drone is tilted to illuminate the stones from a distance outside the circle itself. This is because we couldn’t fly the drone directly inside the stone circle due to concerns of potential crash damage. A solution I had was to use a 40-foot telescopic pole with lights attached to it which my assistant carefully walked inside the circle as if it were my drone.”

The finished photo is a multiple exposure image made up of 25 frames that were captured over the course of about three hours. Wu says that he captured around 50 frames total in that time.

“Each frame shows the light from the drone in a different position. These are then layered in post-production to result in a final picture that shows the entire Stone henge lit up against the setting sun. I used a combination of apps such as Gaia GPS and Photopills to help me scout and plan the angle and composition,” he explains.

Discovered in 1925 from aerial photographs of a wheat field, Woodhenge included six concentric rings of towering timbers, their locations now marked by concrete pillars. Like nearby Stonehenge, the structure was built to align with the rising sun on the summer solstice. | Reuben Wu/National Geographic; image made with five layered exposures)

“I used a Phase One XF with a 150mp IQ4 back and 23mm Rodenstock lens. This allowed me to capture a very wide angle scene and maintain enough image resolution to accommodate different aspect ratios and crops.”

Wu says he also used a Sony Alpha 1 to capture the timelapse footage that was used for the moving digital cover.

“Like so many of us, I grew up reading my dad’s National Geographic magazines, and they instilled a sense of adventure and curiosity about the world we live in,” Wu says. “Photographing a place like Stonehenge for Nat Geo represents something I have dreamed about but never thought would become a reality, so to see my photo on the cover is unreal, and a huge honor.”

For more on this story visit National Geographic’s website or find Stonehenge Revealed on newsstands everywhere.

Scientists find 30 potential new species at bottom of ocean


Natural History Museum scientists seek to unlock mysteries of deep sea but some fear activity will disturb diversity of the depths

Newly discovered deep sea species – in pictures

Newly discovered deep sea species, the gummy squirrel (Psychropotes longicauda). Photograph: Courtesy of DeepCCZ expedition/NOAA


Helena Horton 

Environment reporter

Tue 26 Jul 2022 

Scientists have found more than 30 potentially new species living at the bottom of the sea.

Researchers from the UK’s Natural History Museum used a remotely operated vehicle to collect specimens from the abyssal plains of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the central Pacific. Previously, creatures from this area had been studied only from photographs.

The study, published in the journal Zookeys, found there is a high species diversity of larger organisms in the abyss. Of the 55 specimens recovered, 48 were of different species.

Psychropotes verrucicaudatus, newly discovered using robot technology.

 Photograph: Courtesy of DeepCCZ expedition/Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation & NOAA

The animals found include segmented worms, invertebrates from the same family as centipedes, marine animals from the same family as jellyfish, and different types of coral.

Thirty-six specimens were found at more than 4,800 metres deep, two were collected on a seamount slope at 4,125 metres, and 17 were found at between 3,095 and 3,562 metres deep.

The findings have potentially important implications for deep-sea mining, as humans become more interested in exploiting minerals from the seabed, because it seems the activity has the potential to disturb many creatures.

Peniagone vitrea in situ. 

Photograph: Courtesy of DeepCCZ expedition/Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation & NOAA

The study’s lead author, Dr Guadalupe Bribiesca-Contreras, of the Natural History Museum, said: “This research is important not only due to the number of potentially new species discovered, but because these megafauna specimens have previously only been studied from seabed images. Without the specimens and the DNA data they hold, we cannot properly identify the animals and understand how many different species there are.”

Dr Adrian Glover, who leads the Natural History Museum’s deep-sea research group, said: “We know that millimetre-sized animals called macrofauna are extremely biodiverse in the abyss. However, we have never really had much information on the larger animals we call megafauna, as so few samples have been collected. This study is the first to suggest that diversity may be very high in these groups as well.”

Ancient-Looking Arctic Shark Spotted in the Caribbean, Hundreds of Miles from Usual Habitat

Devanshi Kasana was working with local fishers in Belize, tagging tiger sharks when something caught her attention.

Amanda Taylor - 

© Devanshi Kasana

Kasana, a Ph.D. candidate at Florida International University's Predator Ecology and Conservation lab, was checking her lines only to discover what appeared to be a member of the sleeper shark family, according to a release from Florida International University (FLU).

The problem? Sleeper sharks are known to inhabit waters hundreds of miles away from the Caribbean Sea.

"At first, I was sure it was something else, like a six-gill shark that is well known from deep waters off coral reefs," Kasana said in the release. "I knew it was something unusual, and so did the fishers, who hadn't ever seen anything quite like it in all their combined years of fishing."

The shark found by Kasana and the fishers was half-blind and appeared to be part of the sleeper shark family, which contains shark species that usually survive in freezing Arctic waters. The Greenland shark, a species in the sleeper shark family, can survive for hundreds of years, according to experts.

The "sluggish creature" — as described in FIU's release — seen by Kasana had a blunt snout and small pale eyes. "It looked old — ancient, even — and more like an elongated, smooth stone that had sprung to life" than an actual shark, the release added.

Looking for help in identifying the creature, Kasana texted her Ph.D. advisor, Demian Chapman, who is the director of sharks and rays conservation at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida.

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He suggested that the discovery looked like a Greenland shark. Other experts determined that the creature could also be a hybrid between a Greenland shark and a Pacific sleeper shark.

Greenland sharks are typically slow-moving, slow-growing sharks that live in the cold waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. Scientists speculate that the animal's slow movements contribute to its long lifespan. Experts estimate that Greenland sharks may live upwards of 400 years.

Little else is known about the species, meaning there is a lot of speculation as to why this species was spotted outside its usual habitat. Perhaps, scientists proposed, Greenland sharks live in the super-deep, colder waters of the oceans the world over, not just near the Arctic.

Scientists will continue studying the shark's appearance in Belize while working to increase protections against shark fishing in the area.

Ellen DeGeneres's The Ellen Fund, through the Endangered campaign, partially funds Kasana's Ph.D. research, which involves tagging tiger sharks to track their movement and manage the species populations.

Braid: Toews touts 'targeted' tariffs to defend Alberta as UCP candidates take aim at Ottawa

Former Treasurer Travis Toews offers the most startling anti-Ottawa proposal of all

Author of the article:

Don Braid  •  Calgary Herald

Publishing date:

Jul 27, 2022  •  

FILE PHOTO: Travis Toews, candidate for leader of the United Conservative Party, at the Westley Hotel in Calgary. Darren Makowichuk/Postmedia files

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Danielle Smith and her UCP leadership campaigners have shrewdly fostered the impression that she wears the anti-Ottawa crown. Fighting Ottawa is the whole point of the leadership race, she says — the central issue for Alberta.

But all the candidates voiced strategies for dealing with the Trudeau government during Wednesday’s candidate debate.

The others even find parts of Smith’s Sovereignty Act proposal they agree with — a provincial police force and pension, for instance.

They just don’t support her promise to nullify federal laws, because they believe it guarantees a chaotic flight from Alberta. Her only backer on nullification is Todd Loewen.

It’s somewhat surprising, therefore, that former Treasurer Travis Toews offers the most startling anti-Ottawa proposal of all.

He would impose Alberta tariffs on goods and services from areas deemed hostile to Alberta. He didn’t mention this in the debate (or not that I heard, given the many amateurish streaming freezes) but it’s right there in his campaign platform.

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It says that as premier he would “pass enabling legislation, so that when Ottawa attacks Alberta’s economy we have a potential suite of targeted levies on goods and contracts we can begin to apply and escalate as needed.”

When Alberta’s economy booms, manufactured goods come from other provinces and out-of-province companies do much of the work.

How “targeted levies” would be used isn’t at all clear, although one of Toews’ campaign staffers suggested it might affect goods from Quebec if the province further hindered pipelines with federal connivance.

This would be intended “to back Alberta’s energy and agricultural sectors against Ottawa’s targeted attacks.”

Apparently, Toews got this notion from Ottawa itself. When the U.S. threatened trade discrimination based on country-of-origin labelling, Canada countered by threatening to levy tariffs on such goods.

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The Americans repealed some of their legislation, maybe because of Ottawa’s threat but also because the World Trade Organization banned country-of-origin labelling for some products.

Toews says his moves against any Ottawa predations would be similarly strategic and targeted. He would shun a big nullification move that could very well be declared unconstitutional in the courts. More cautious by nature, Toews has a point. A constitutional declaration that was simply derided and defeated would be more damaging than doing nothing.

(Smith says Ottawa is the “lawless” party that constantly ignores the Constitution. Her nullification response, based on provincial powers, would be “lawful.”)

Candidates, left to right, Todd Loewen, Danielle Smith, Rajan Sawhney, Rebecca Schulz, Leela Aheer, Travis Toews, and Brian Jean, attend the United Conservative Party of Alberta leadership candidate’s debate in Medicine Hat, Alta., Wednesday, July 27, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Brian Jean supports many Sovereignty Act ideas but draws the line at nullification of federal laws.

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He said the key is to follow through with measures such as provincial referendums on key issues, unlike Premier Jason Kenney, who won the referendum on equalization but then did nothing further when the rest of the country ignored it.

Rebecca Schulz said many gains can be won from Ottawa with tough negotiation, citing her own victory with the federal-provincial child care agreement.

Rajan Sawhney took on Smith most directly. “We can respond aggressively (to Ottawa) but the answer isn’t to threaten sovereignty or separation.

“A Danielle Smith victory today means a Rachel Notley victory tomorrow,” she added, calling Smith’s idea “risky and hotheaded.”

The candidates — also including Loewen and Leela Aheer — debated and often sniped at each other for two hours, but ended up saying how wonderful they are, one and all. They even offered each other cabinet posts.

Aheer came out with the only moment of real inspiration when she called for “a collective wave of energy and strength” to bring the province to greatness.

Loewen, who was kicked out of the government caucus for blasting Kenney, chided Toews for not speaking out. Toews responded hotly that he didn’t “cut and run” but spoke his mind at the cabinet table.

The candidates are trying to win for themselves while uniting the party and defeating the NDP next year. It’s complicated.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald.

Twitter: @DonBraid