It's not nature, and it's not wildlife, but it IS an animal so it might pass.

http://www.sushigaijin.com/images/photos/popcornsmall1.jpg
http://www.sushigaijin.com/images/photos/popcornsmall2.jpg
http://www.sushigaijin.com/images/photos/popcornsmall3.jpg

Varanus acanthurus, a dwarf australian monitor (goanna)

Erik.

Yuk, Oh my god, Wow! what a mixture of feelings i felt when i first opened the thread, but after looking over the images again, i was more in awe!

Great capture and DOF, but can i ask what is that its eating!?

well, a mixture of feelings is probably a healthy response. Thanks for the kind words. To answer your question, he is eating dinner.



no seriously, he is eating a young mouse. In the reptile hobby they are available humanely dispatched, already frozen, in bulk - just heat and eat, so to speak. Safe for the fed, and as easy on the feeders as is possible.

Erik.

Looks like a mouse to me. (spooky, we posted at the same time) Can I ask what lens and settings you used please? TIA

Is this your monitor? I had a few in my youth... peach throated, blue tailed and a trio of roughnecked :D

I always was a fan of feeding my snakes chickens and rabbits when possible due to cost, but have had many a 100 ct rat/mouse order.

great images

My camera is a sony H1.http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydsch1/

i shoot full manual with the native lens (36-432mm equivelent).
36mm
ISO 64
f/3.5
1/160
with flash fired through a diffuser i made from a half gallon milk jug. I used the heat lamps to add ambient light. The second shot suffers from a little softness from motion blur, would have been a better shot at 1/125 or 1/250. All shot within a few inches of the animal. using the telephoto would have made me set up the tripod, which is a pain in the butt in the small room the animal is kept in.

As for my reptile collection, yes, this is one of mine. My bride got it through the rescue/adoptions section of the herp society i sit on the board of directors of, www.chicagoherp.org. I have a small assortment of geckos and colubrid snakes also - i used to specialize in varanids but sold them off to accomodate the space i had available. as always, thanks for the compliments.

Erik.

Great site! I had no clue the blue iguana was that endangered! I had one for awhile about 12 years ago. It was nearly 4 feet long and the previous own had a bad heat source that burned it's belly badly( Same reason I had the blue tailed monitor) I got him all healed up and gave him to a guy who had rhino iguanas as pets. He died 4 years later of old age we presume.

Had I known they were that rare(though they cost $750 as young at the time), I would have donated it to a reintroduction program. It's sad that human expansion is is causing a global decline in wildlife.