Stories of the 4 Leggeds told by Stuart Posner

Gray Wolf
Photographed near Glacier National Park in northern Montana, the gray wolf is gradually being re-introduced to its native habitat by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. After years of exclusion from this region and contentious debate between environmentalist and commercial ranching interests, the wolf may once again occupy its natural place in the ecology of the American West.


Mountain Lion
Preparing to lunge from its vantage point on a mound of snow, the mountain lion epitomizes both the grace and raw power that has made this predator a symbol of all that is still wild and primal in our natural world.


Polar Bear
Located only a few miles below the arctic circle in the Canadian Northwest Territories, Wager Bay is formed by a 100 mile cleft in the coastal contour of Hudson Bay. In these remote waters, the polar bear occupies the dominant position in the hierarchy of land and sea animals. Equally at home in these frigid waters as well as the rock strewn shoreline, the animal's mastery of this harsh environment is awe inspiring. Despite their ferocity, female polar bears are tenaciously protective of their cubs as seen in this image of a cub clinging to its mother as she provides a shield against a perceived threat.


Elephants
The largest free-ranging population of elephants in Africa continually traverse the Kalahari desert bush and salt flats of northern Botswana looking for sustaining vegetation and water. Although massive in size and weight these magnificent creatures aligned so as to shelter their youngest between the larger mature females, can move so quietly on their cushioned feet that only the rising desert dust betrays their passage.


Lion
The penetrating gaze of an adult Kalahari male lion even when viewed from safety through the high powered optics of a telephoto lens can still engender fear in the beholder at the critical moment of eye contact just as the camera's shutter closes.


Orangutan
Photographed in captivity, this sumatran orangutan's facial expression and body language seems to suggest a state of despair and frustration -- not unlike that of the human spirit when deprived of its freedom


Giraffes
Two male giraffes captured on film in the Savutu game reserve in Botswana are positioning themselves for a dominance challenge in which each will try to up-end the other with its neck and force its opponent to the ground. Large numbers of giraffe range widely in this relatively undisturbed and infrequently visited area of southern Africa