Franklin and Marshal have a special place in my heart. Part of being a volunteer at the Denver Zoo is getting a tiny bit of insider information. These were the first animals that I got to know about before the public learned about them. They also have a special place in my heart because they’re amazing and I love them.
I’ve seen them wrestling quite a bit. Clacking their horns together in a bit of play is one of their favorite activities. I have versions of this shot with better backgrounds, some in the snow, some in the grass, some in the mud. But I don’t have a version with better Addaxes. Franklin’s look right into the camera, Marshall’s eyes going forward to his soon-to-be headbutt target. It’s just great and fun and dynamic. You can see the action and the emotion.
Addaxes are pretty wild. Living in the Sahara Desert, they can go a ridiculously long time without obvious water access. They get by on the dew and soaked up water of the plants they consume. They also dramatically change color between winter and summer, losing their dark markings and becoming almost solid white in summer in order to help manage heat.
Unfortunately, they’re becoming a lot less wild. At last count, there were three of them. Not three thousand, not three hundred. Three. Even if that were only 10% of the population, it’s not enough to sustain their existence. These guys are basically doomed to extinction in the wild at this point, and it’s unbelievably sad.
The Zootographer 