Biodiversity
For the last ten years on every first weekend in June GEO initiates a so called „GEO-Day of Biodiversity“. Around one hundred biologists, specialised in different groups of plants and animals, gather under a predefined heading to find as many species as possible in an according area. At the end of the day the species […]
Fruit fly – Drosophila melanogaster
Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) and their similarities to humans About 75% of known human disease genes have a recognisable match in the genome of fruit flies. To the naked eye Drosophila melanogaster looks like any other fly. There are wings, a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. But beneath these external structures is a genome […]
Wild Wonders of Europe
Turkey The Turkish midsummer heat hits stunningly but unsurprisingly. However, the size of this object in focus is both, stunning and surprising: A freshwater turtle with a carapace length of 1 metre is what I would expected to see in the Amazon River, but surely not here in Europe. And in fact the home […]
Mayflies
Long-tailed Mayfly (Palingenia longicauda) Triggered by water temperature and other environmental conditions thousands of mayflies, called “flowers of Tisza” emerge from the surface of the Tisza river in Hungary. On the riverside vegetation the males have to molt another time before they go ahead for a quick mating – and perish. It is only the […]
Rockhopper penguins
Rockhopper Penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome) The Rockhopper Penguin at the Falkland Islands is one of the many penguin species that do not live in snow and ice. However, at the breeding colonies and in the waters surrounding the stunning archipelago they face rough winds and extreme weather changes. During low tide they do not only have […]
Ant Portrait
All around the world ants are a very successfull and diverse group of insects. Their extremely various lifestyles often manifest themselves in their faces: The mandibles are specialised on different tasks, e.g. to carry, to kill, to cut, to grasp. Sometimes even the outer shape of the head is telltale, as it may help the […]
Crested Black Macaque
Crested Black Macaque (Macaca nigra) Shortly after sunrise a group of about 20 black monkeys takes over their morning shift in the rain forest of Sulawesi (Indonesia). Like firemen on a pole the Crested Black Macaques slide down the smooth trunks of the trees on which they slept at night. As soon as they reach […]
Deep Sea
The pictures of deep sea creatures were taken at the reseach vessel FS Polarstern of the AWI (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany) during its cruise ANT XXIV/1 from Bremerhaven to Capetown. The scientific work on board was part of the “Census of Marine Zooplankton” (CMarZ), an oceanic field project of the […]
Arribada – Sea turtle
Many female olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) are swimming from the open ocean towards the beach of Ostional, Costa Rica, Pacific Ocean to gather for an mass nesting event. The arrival of one olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) at the beach, can be the beginning of an arribada (mass nesting event) of the […]
Namib Desert ecosystem
The windswept sand dunes of the Namib Desert are alive. Some inhabitants as the Ostrich or the Oryx are obvious, but many more go unseen by the average visitor to the hills. The researcher of the Gobabab Training and Research Station know better – some are even able to tell apart the approximately two hundred […]
Mantis Shrimp
More than 400 species of mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda) are described and the bigger ones which can grow up to sizes of more than 30 cm are also used in local kitchens and restaurants. Mantis shrimp can be separated into two distinct groups: spearers and smashers. Both groups have forelimbs which evolved into specialized raptorial appendages. […]
Gentoo Penguin
How many facets can a small penguin have? On land the Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis papua) of the Falkland Islands can be as charismatic, clumsy, manlike and clownish as everybody would expect from these upright birds. But there is more about them. Attentive to their two chicks, sturdy against storms during the breeding season, tensed and stressed when […]
Golden Lion Tamarin
The Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) is a very small monkey of the Mata Atlanitca, the coastal rainforest of Brazil, but it is a shining star for species conservation efforts. By the late 1970s both, their habitat and their population numbers were nearly dashed with only 150 animals left in the isolated remains of the forest. […]
King Penguin
King Penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) roam all sub-antarctic oceans, but they become highly gregarious for the breeding season when they gather e.g. at the Falkland Islands. Here they are, as actually most of the penguin species, not within snow and ice as it is erroneously often assumed to be typical for penguins. The King Penguin can be […]
Black Browed Albatross
The Black Browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrhys, syn. Diomedea melanophris) is the most common of all albatross species, but nonetheless it has to be considered as endangered following the IUCN Red List. Recently the breeding population in the Falkland Islands declined from 468 000 to 382 000 pairs within only 5 years. And numbers are still going […]
Norway Lemming
They do look like cute little pets, but they are not defenseless and can use their impressive incisors not only to bite their favorite food, such as moss, grass and shrubs. The Norway Lemming (Lemmus lemmus) is the only vertebrate that is endemic to Scandinavia. Other members of the genus Lemmus, however, can be found in […]
Critters – Lembeh Strait
The Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi, Indonesia is renowned as being the planet’s epicentre of marine bio diversity. Here you’ll find a high concentration of marine life. The place is world famous for its wondrous critters.
Newts
Newt populations have fallen across the world because of pollution or destruction of their breeding sites and terrestrial habitats. The IUCN Red List categorises the species as ‘lower risk’ Although the other UK species, the smooth newt and palmate newt are not listed, the sale of either species is prohibited under the Wildlife and Countryside […]
Winner of the Fritz Pölking Award 2010
Solvin receives the Fritz Pölking Award 2010 for his story on the Arribada of the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Costa Rica.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition judge
Solvin has been chosen to be part of the judging panel for the for the 2010 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The 46th annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition again is looking for the best innovative and inspiring wildlife images. To get more information on the competition and find out how to enter, […]
german award for science photography 2008
04.01.2009 Solvin received the german award for science photography 2008 1. prize for his picture story on biodiversity in an area of sustainable agriculture. The story was produced on assignment for GEO. Solvin erhält den deutschen preis für wissenschaftsfotografie 2008 Die Reportage über die Artenvielfalt in einer halboffenen Weidelandschaft wurde mit dem 1. Preis ausgezeichnet. […]
Deep sea plankton wins at POYi
Solvin won an award in the 65th annual Pictures of the Year International photojournalism competition. The photo of a deep-water decapod Sergestes lava resived a ‘Award of Excellence’ in the ‘SCIENCE/NATURAL HISTORY’ category. The image is part of a story on deep sea plankton for GEO.
Best GEO-Photo of the Year 2007
Solvin’s picture of a lady beetle on a dandelion clock is the winning image in a reader voting on www.geo.de. It was rated to be the best GEO-Photo of the Year 2007 – the previous vote in 2001 was also won by Solvin with his photo of a black macaque looking into a discarded mirror. […]
