Rare: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species

May 30, 2010 7:50 AM

"Bryn the pygmy rabbit died in 2008, marking the end of her genetic line. This subpopulation lost its sagebrush habitat as the land was developed for agriculture ... In an off-exhibit room at the Oregon Zoo, the staff was quiet, even reverent, as they brought in Bryn. She was one of two Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits left, and since both were old females, this was a solemn occasion." Rare: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species
posted by melissam (16 comments total)

Mom, dad? Can you tell me where you found my name again? It wasn't, say, from a pygmy rabbit, right? Right?
posted by bryn at 7:57 AM on May 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

First you find a place like the New York State Zoo in Watertown that will work with you to place white sheets of one-inch-thick plywood in his off-exhibit space. Next you watch the wolverine completely demolish the plywood within minutes. As a last resort, you take a very thin white seamless paper, which he proceeds to delicately walk across many times in order to get his picture taken.

Wolverines are fucking awesome.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 8:01 AM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Mom, dad? Can you tell me where you found my name again? It wasn't, say, from a pygmy rabbit, right? Right?
posted by bryn

This also may explain why my name is "Eastern Hellbender".
posted by Greg Nog at 8:07 AM on May 30, 2010 [6 favorites]

.
posted by digitaldraco at 8:20 AM on May 30, 2010

.

for Bryn and Raphaela
posted by drogien at 8:22 AM on May 30, 2010

The pictures are so beautiful and tragic, and some of his stories of getting the photos are quite funny. Such a mix of emotions from a seemingly simple presentation. Thanks for posting!
posted by dorey_oh at 8:44 AM on May 30, 2010

The photographer had a documentary made about him called At Close Range. I saw it on Netflix streaming.

Reading his website, I just realized that in the documentary they are preparing for the Alaska trip mentioned here.
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 9:23 AM on May 30, 2010

Pretty neat to see the behind the scenes. I always though I was the only one who found photographing small animals bloody impossible.

I prefer to do it when they're dead or (in the case of reptiles, amphibians and insects) cold, but I guess a book full of dead or torpid endangered animals would have been a slow seller.
posted by klanawa at 9:31 AM on May 30, 2010

It's truly a beautiful and sad book (but not completely without hope). Joel Sartore has a good heart and a wonderful eye. He's a great advocate for these issues.
posted by darksong at 10:52 AM on May 30, 2010

That rabbit looks so sad in the photo =(
posted by wuwei at 1:33 PM on May 30, 2010

This is beautiful. And yeah, I love wolverines; they are the coolest creatures ever.
posted by OolooKitty at 1:34 PM on May 30, 2010

.

:(
posted by perilous at 3:00 PM on May 30, 2010

I want to know how to become a " federally permitted fly handler." Sounds lucrative.
posted by melissam at 3:38 PM on May 30, 2010

The black-footed ferret really broke my heart as a former (European) ferret owner. But none of them were as sad as Bryn.
posted by immlass at 4:10 PM on May 30, 2010

I liked these. And the behind-the-scenes footage kind of made it look like the most fun job ever! Eagles and hedgehogs are such divas about which is their "good" side.
posted by troublewithwolves at 6:30 PM on May 30, 2010

"That which you do to the least of these you do to me."
posted by Twang at 5:08 AM on May 31, 2010