Wildlife amazes us. Their resilience, natural athleticism, and ability to evoke many emotions within us are just a few of the reasons we feel at awe in their presence. As 2019 comes to a close and we enter a new decade, we look back on some of our favorite photos from this year:
Lions rarely hunt hippos, which are known as one of the most dangerous and aggressive animals on the planet. We were stunned to see this photo from Lion Recovery Fund partner CLAWS Conservancy capturing a lion on a hippo kill in Botswana’s Okvango Delta. Lions truly are the King of Beasts.
In November 2019, these two chimpanzees took their first flight thanks to the help of Okapi Conservation Project (OCP) and their partners. These two orphaned chimpanzees were found malnourished in Ebola exposed areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo. OCP quarantined and stabilized the orphans until they were ready to make their journey to the Lwiro Primate Sanctuary.
Saiga antelopes, whose bulbous noses are reminiscent of the tauntaun creatures in Star Wars, live in the grasslands of Central Asia. Their distinctive noses help them filter out dust during the arid summer months, and they also help warm up frigid winter air. These photos from this December capture a saiga’s nose in motion—something we’ve never seen captured on camera before.
Ewaso Lions captured the Koitogor pride surprising a troop of baboons in Samburu, Kenya. This was the first time their teams captured lions hunting baboons on camera. View the full photo series here.
Did this capture of the Ngweshla Pack in Zimbabwe discover the first six-legged, two-headed painted dog? This photo of two painted dogs made us do a double take and easily became one of our favorite photos of 2019.
Look closely and you can see Hurricane’s adorable baby from the Storms herd peeking over the bonnet of a Save the Elephants’ vehicle shortly before the rains. Hurricane must be so trusting of their vehicles to allow her young calf so close.
This October, Dr. Jane Goodall kicked off the Wildlife Conservation Expo with an inspiring talk about her journey and work with chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. At the end of the talk, she invited more than 40 conservationists from our Conservation Partners on stage at the Masonic Center in San Francisco, CA. This moment left us speechless as the 2,000+ member audience were moved to their feet to applaud these individuals for their work protecting wildlife and wild spaces across the globe.