Pretty kitty nabs wildlife camera-trap photo prize

Joanna Carver, reporter

(Image: Zhou Zhefeng/BBC Wildlife Magazine)

Look, but don't touch - no matter how cuddly this feaster of flesh looks. This picture of a Chinese leopard, taken by Zhou Zhefeng for a project funded by Shanxi Wocheng Institute of Ecology and Environment, is the winner of this year's BBC Wildlife's Camera-trap Photo of the Year competition. It won the overall prize and the animal portraits category.

Camera-trapping isn't a new technology, but as traps become more sensitive and affordable, they are often the unsung heroes in efforts to track rare, elusive animals. For example, pictures of the critically endangered Saharan cheetah revealed information about an creature we know almost nothing about.

Unlike human observers, cameras don't need to eat or sleep, they don't greatly disrupt the animal's natural state, and they aren't at risk of being attacked.?In the case of photographing dangerous predators like cheetahs, that's certainly a wise choice.

Runners-up in the competition included a photo-bombing rabbit in Portugal, a snow leopard in India sticking his tongue out at the camera, and a sloth bear spitting at the lens - all of which makes you wonder what some animals think of their automated paparazzi. See more of the best images in the December issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine, on sale now, and at discoverwildlife.com.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/25dce38b/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A120C110Cpretty0Ekitty0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

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