From Donna Feledichuk
This image is only possible because I was using a 400mm f2.8 lens and due to countless hours of practice in photographing great gray owls. To get all the detail and not have blur in the wings shooting at lower shutter speeds at dusk is from tons of practice in the field. Opportunities for backlighting on great gray owls are not frequent. The weather needs to cooperate not always the case in the north and the owl needs to be in the right position. This image is about technical skill, fieldcraft and knowledge coming together in a single frame.
I rank the hippo highly because it’s about equally as dangerous on land and water. There’s a number of animals that are scary in on or the other, but not many on both! They have almost the size and speed of a rhino (up to 30 mph / 48 kmh, surprisingly fast for being so large!) and giant teeth, a mouth that opens almost 180 degrees, and a bite force 3 times of a lion. They’re super territorial and generally in a bad mood. Most of that applied to the water too.
They sleep most of the day underwater, unconsciously coming up to breathe every 5 minutes or so. The problem occurs when someone is a little boat bumps into that nose, waking a very angry hippo!
Estimates say around 500 people a year are killed by hippos, while lions come in at only around half that.