George Dian Balan, MAMMOTHS COME FROM AFRICA (ANIMALS 2026)

Researchers believe that mammoths originated in Africa. Present day African elephants have much straighter tusks than mammoths or Asian elephants. However, I looked for one of those very rare specimens with very curved tusks. The great tusker in this picture sports strongly curved, 9 feet long tusks, crossing each other. After winning the Animals category last year with WHEN MAMMOTHS RULED THE EARTH, I tried to find a worthy African counterpart to the most fabulous of the Asian Super Tuskers alive, and take a complementary image of him. Like in the previous case, I tried to time the picture so as to show a spectacular low, wide angle against a sky balanced by dramatic clouds. As the elephant was drinking, some water drops formed a small line shining in the sun. A good part of the head of the elephant is in the shadows and the eyes cannot be seen, which places the entire focus on its most notable feature (his huge tusks) and on the water dripping. This gives a sense of anonymity to the character.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.