Elyssa Kellerman, Wildlife Photography - Artist's Statement on "Landscape Species"

Artist's Statement: Landscape Species

Landscape species are the iconic animals that have captured the imagination and fascination of people across cultures and throughout time. Tigers prowling through the jungle, gorillas foraging in troops of up to 30 members, whales breaching out of the ocean depths and into the sky, and forest elephants emerging from the forest to a clearing (bai) to drink and play and then quietly disappearing into the forest again.

Landscape species have the power to make people stop and recognize the awesomeness and beauty of the natural world. Whether it be on film or in person, watching a jaguar hunt and catch its quarry, or seeing penguins amass in the millions on the arctic ice, is breathtaking.

I have often focused on landscape species because of their ability to inspire people. Waiting for a lowland gorilla to emerge from the forest to a bai while being swarmed by hundreds of insects of all kinds, is most often a test of my patience and commitment. Sitting in a blind for hours - or even days- waiting for a troop of spider monkeys to enter a clay lick, while being attacked by sweat bees, is another test of my will. Waking at 4:00am for 15 days to go up and down a river for 15 hours in The Pantanal in search of a brief glimpse of a jaguar is another test. But if the moment happens, my heart stops, and it is all worth it.

Species conservation has been a priority for the Wildlife Conservation Society for more than a century. WCS has always taken a science-based approach to species conservation which focuses on the following factors: the largeness of the species, the distinctive animals that are threatened in a particular landscape, the importance of the species to humans, and whether the species is a powerful icon of nature that can act as a catalyst for conservation. It is important to recognize that successfully conserving biodiversity rests on saving landscape species as they most often cover an enormous range. Thus, protecting landscape species also protects their habitat and every other species surviving in and on that habitat.

I have been privileged and awed to witness such jewels of the natural world.