Blog Archive

One of my roles as a zoo photographer is to take photos of the animals for the keepers. The keepers use the photos to identify individual animals that may require specialised food or medicine. It’s very important to make sure the right animal is given the right attention.
 
The Adelaide Zoo has recently opened a new enclosure with 7 lemurs. While some lemurs are quite distinctive others look identical which makes it difficult for the keepers to quickly tell them apart. With the help of the keepers I photographed the 7 male lemurs over a period of a few weeks. We picked out individual markings on their fur, different eye colourings and anything else we could use to tell them apart. The photos are then placed near the lemur enclosure so the individual lemurs can be easily identified.
 
It was a lot of fun but at times very very confusing. I would take a few shots of 'little Joe' (he has two white spots on his right shoulder) and then he would run around and I would lose him so I would spend most of my time asking the keepers 'is that him, is that him' ? Another of the lemurs is 'Stallone' who has a 'v' shaped piece missing from his right ear.
 
Next time you’re at the zoo visit the lemurs and see if you can tell them apart and maybe even spot 'little Joe' and 'Stallone'. Good luck !!