Pic of orphaned possum awarded prize at the 2020 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year awards
A photographer checked the pouch of a possum on a suburban Melbourne street and found its baby had survived. Warning: Distressing photos.
Warning: Distressing photos.
It’s not unusual to drive past Australian animals that have been hit by cars, especially on a country road, but this heartbreaking photo might make you think twice when driving past a marsupial on your average suburban street.
The devastating image below shows one lucky joey brushtail possum that was found alive in its mum’s pouch on the side of a suburban street in Prahan, Melbourne.
“Most likely killed by a car and moved to the side of the road, it was then taken to a vet. The joey survived, but this shows the importance of always checking a dead marsupial’s pouch,” said photographer Doug Gimesy.
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The photo was awarded the ‘Our impact’ runner-up award in the 2020 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Awards, with the exhibition running at the South Australian Museum until mid November.
The overall category winner was awarded to Ben Blanche’s photo of a lightning fire in Mount Barney National Park, Queensland in November 2019.
“The fire was rather slow moving and took some hours to move across the mountain, luckily I had a local telling me what the fire conditions were like leading up to the day so I could plan,” Mr Blanche said.
The other winning entries are shown below.
Robert Irwin (yes, the son of Steve) won the junior runner-up prize.
“While on a research expedition to the remote bush of Cape York, I spotted this scrub python coming down out of the canopy, probably looking for the best spot to sun. I climbed up onto its level and captured this photo just as it flicked out its tongue toward the camera.” he said.
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