Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

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  • Tension mounts as two battle-scarred wild stallions face off. In a wild horse herd, the dominant stallion is challenged by other studs in a brutal quest for hierarchy. Eye to eye, the horses stare and smell each other which is the beginning of the fight ritual. Many mustang studs have missing ears, and their bodies are battle-scarred from bite marks and strikes from front hooves.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222817.jpg
  • As night falls, a blur of galloping horses reveals a stud that is chasing a younger male from the band. When males come of age showing sexual maturity, they are driven from the family to find a mate. It is believed this is their natural way of warding off inbreeding. The younger horse must find other males to form a bachelor band or win a mare for his own.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222869.TIF
  • Two wild stallions eye each other and begin a ritual to establish dominance. They paw the ground establishing their turf and next they will either walk away or fight. Horses are prey animals with a strong "fight-or-flight" response where they flee for safety but they defend themselves or stand their ground when their hierarchy is challenged.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222816.TIF
  • A mare and foal crest a hill under darkening gray skies of a looming storm in South Dakota.  The silhouetted pair are part of the Gila herd of wild horses with Spanish origin that came to North America with the Conquistadors in the 1600s.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222825.TIF
  • Strong winds blow rain from a storm cloud that violently erupts with loud claps of thunder that sends a band of horses running for safety. The young foal runs behind, following her mother and another mare.<br />
The wild horse herd nervously watched as a storm approached in central South Dakota. When lightning and thunder began, they galloped to a far away fence where they could go no further. The "fight or flight" instinct of behavior is powerful and horses often panic and flee when they sense danger.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222812.TIF
  • A helicopter circles back to drive a herd of wild horses across the desert toward a trap in a roundup by the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. Dust rises as the panicked horses flee the buzzing noise above them. Drought and wild land fire create stressful conditions with little water and food available for the herd.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222850.jpg
  • Stallions battle for mares during the foaling season which is generally in the spring, There are constant conflicts that interrupt the wild horse's grazing habits.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222810.jpg
  • Young studs playfully practice their moves to fight for dominance in the White Sands Herd. A well placed bite may give one an advantage in a battle for mares during breeding season. The instinctual training is to insure preservation of the strongest in the herd. Brutal fights can leave mustangs scarred and injured so the yearlings practice as they mature.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222776.jpg
  • Protected wild horses come to a water hole drinking in order of dominance in the herd. Ears perked forward, the curious mustang shows no fear.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222855.TIF
  • A mare watches over a newborn foal that is her grandson, scolding him for trying to nurse with her. Although he is minutes old and just standing for the first time, she is teaching him his first life lessons while his mother rests after just giving birth.
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  • A cloud of dust rises as two helicopters guide 870 mustangs across the desert into a trap. They were rounded up from the Winnemucca Rangeland Area after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) determined that the number of wild horses there could not be supported on public land. Drought and wild fires created a dire situation for the horses, but advocates of mustangs believe horse herds are systematically being eliminated from western lands.<br />
Although there were as many as two million mustangs at the turn of the century, their numbers are much smaller and reduced regularly by these BLM gathers.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222849.TIF
  • Wild horses graze at an abandoned industrial site near a waterhole in Nevada. The scrappy equine are survivors on sparse, dry range as they roam across state, private and public federal land.
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  • Panicked wild horses flee from a helicopter in a roundup. The Bureau of Land Management hires contractors annually to reduce herd numbers throughout the West.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222843.jpg
  • Wild horses kick up dust as they gallop through the dry Nevada desert. Horses survive on little living on barren public lands in the American West.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222853.jpg
  • Horses flee from helicopters in a Bureau of Land Management mustang roundup. Bands stay together to protect the younger wild horses as the herd gallops full speed trying to run to safety.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222846.jpg
  • A herd of mustangs move across the grasslands as a summer storm builds over the high plains. It is believed that over two million wild horses roamed the largely unfenced American West in the 1900s.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222811.jpg
  • Wild horses graze while ducks swim by in a waterhole they share with other wildlife.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_2737063.jpg
  • Wild horses graze in a remote area of  high desert on western public lands.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_2737061.jpg
  • Wild horses create a cloud of dust as they gallop making trails across dry, sagebrush-covered public lands. Trails mark paths the horses follow in their trek through the barren desert of the Bureau of Land Management's Jackson Mountains searching for water and food.<br />
Nearly half the wild horses in the U.S. live in Nevada where they compete for food, water and territory with cattle, other wildlife, and oil gas and mineral exploration. Drought and wild land fire place greater pressures on the scrappy herd that survives on little to nothing in the Winnemucca rangeland.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1200521.jpg
  • A young stud lifts his lip catching a whiff of a mare in heat. The Flehmen response is a biological reaction to smell where an animal curls back the upper lip and senses pheromones.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222815.jpg
  • Stallions kick up their heels as they spar in a battle for mares during the foaling season.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222791.jpg
  • A bachelor band of wild horses stick together to face into the wind picking up scents. Older studs join younger ones forming a family when none have mares or are accepted into another group.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222828.jpg
  • A frisky mustang foal romps in a meadow.<br />
Foals are often born with a pale shade of their adult color. In the wild, the dull colored coat camouflages babies from predators. However, they typically shed their fuzzy foal coat at three or four months of age and evolve into their adult coloration.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222782.jpg
  • Skeleton of a wild horse likely killed by a cougar in the high desert has teeth intact in the skull. The horse's natural enemies are predator animals: mountain lions, wolves and humans.
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  • A wild stallion attempts to escape but is roped by cowboys during a Bureau of Land Managment roundup. The wily wild horse whinnied to the other trapped horses, then tried to outrun his captures.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222836.jpg
  • Ears pointed forward, a wild Palomino canters blurring at a fast pace through grasslands and prairie. Palominos are recognized by the color of horse distinguished by their cream, yellow, or gold coat and white or silver mane and tail. The Palomino horse is said to have originated in Spain around 1519, at the beginning of the Spanish New World and Cortez's reign. Although the exact development of these horses is unknown, their origin is rooted in Spain. Ears tipped forward indicate excitement or interest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222874.jpg
  • Two curious burros watch mustangs drink at a waterhole they share. Burro is the Spanish name for a wild donkey. They have longer ears than horses and engaging personalities liking humans. <br />
The Bureau of Land Management created the Wild Horse and Burro Program to implement the Wild-Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, passed by Congress in 1971. Broadly, the law declares wild horses and burros to be "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West" and stipulates that the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service have the responsibility to manage and protect herds in their respective jurisdictions within areas where wild horses and burros were found roaming in 1971.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222856.jpg
  • A bachelor band of horses group together for protection and company while grazing in the high desert of Steens Mountain in Oregon. Males in a herd form a family when they are young or old but have no mares.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222866.jpg
  • Wild horse hooves kick up dirt as the herd  gallops through the dry Nevada desert. A camera was set on a remote as panicked mustangs ran into a trap during a Bureau of Land Management roundup.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222852.jpg
  • Two mustangs groom each other, a common social behavior among wild horses. The mutual grooming brings heads together and reaffirms bonding between horses, reducing social tension within a herd.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222797.jpg
  • Separated from the herd, wild horses run to safety as Bureau of Land Management contractors bear down driving mustangs toward a trap using a helicopter for the roundup.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222835.jpg
  • A pair of protected wild horse foals wander through tall grasses. The black and white orphan babies were rescued and later adopted after their herds were captured by the Bureau of Land Management.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222823.jpg
  • A band of wild horses follow single file to water as they roam the wide open spaces near Pilot Butte a unique formation that stands out in the high desert on public lands in western Wyoming.
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  • Two foals watch studs fight, learning the behavior they will imitate when they are older. Young wild horses make friends and bond within a horse herd.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222798.jpg
  • Wild horses follow the leader to a water hole to drink in order of hierarchy in the herd.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222857.jpg
  • Wild horses graze at dusk as the moon rises over a ranch in land in South Dakota where mustangs and burros are protected.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222785.jpg
  • A man feeds carrots to nearly tame mustangs in a Nevada subdivision. Residents in the Virginia Range are accustomed to wild horses grazing and then visiting their yards.
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  • Wild horses exhibit a "fight or flight" instinct typical of prey animals. As a noise startles the band, the horse on the right flees, the middle one quickly turns to follow while the mustang on the left looks back to see the threat and why the alarm was sounded for them to run to safety.<br />
<br />
South Steens wild horse herd located south of Frenchglen in the high desert country with extremely rocky surfaces divided by deep canyons, rim rocks and plateaus.
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  • A bachelor band of wild horses put their heads together to share a good source of food. Males without mares or family create their own bands with other single males.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222795.jpg
  • A band of wild horses roam the wide open spaces on Bureau of Land Management rangeland near Pilot Butte in western Wyoming.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222847.jpg
  • Bureau of Land Management contractors drive wild horses galloping toward a trap using helicopters. Wyoming rangelands have "checkerboard" ownership of adjoining public and private land complicating management of wild horse herds. Ranchers won a lawsuit to have them rounded up and removed.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222844.jpg
  • Hiding behind a jute fence, a cowboy watches as a helicopter drives wild horses into a trap. A “Judas” horse that is trained to run into a corral dupes the frightened horses into following. A gate slams shut and they are captured in a Bureau of Land Management roundup.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1200523.TIF
  • A wily horse separated from his band trots to freedom during a helicopter wild horse round up.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_2737058.jpg
  • A curious yearling approaches warily and wind-blown, shedding his shaggy winter coat. Although cautious, the horses’ ears are forward showing interest and openness. Horses are very social. Young ones play fight and gallop showing little fear as they test their skills while they navigate the hierarchy among members of a wild horse herd. These horses are descendants of a herd bred for the US Cavalry in the 1800s. Rounded up during WWI and WWII, they were shipped to Europe serving as "War Horses" pulling artillery and serving as mounts.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222880.TIF
  • Kiger mustangs graze peacefully on public land in southeast Oregon.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_2737064.jpg
  • Sand Wash Basin wild horses drink water on parched high desert public lands where they roam.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_2737062.jpg
  • A rumble of thunder, crack of lightning, and winds blow dark clouds across the prairie alerting a mustang herd that a summer storm approaches. When the sky opened with torrents of rain, the nervous young wild horses bolted to outrun the storm.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222808.TIF
  • Bureau of Land Management contractors use a helicopter to push wild horses toward a trap during a roundup. Wyoming has "checkerboard" ownership of public land abutting private ownership. Ranchers won a lawsuit to have mustangs removed because they cross unfenced lines while grazing and searching for water.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222908.jpg
  • Dust settles as wild horses come to a halt, trapped after running from a helicopter during a Bureau of Land Management roundup. Drought and wild land fire created stressful conditions for the rugged, wily and skinny equine who barely survived eating twigs and dried up grasses.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222851.TIF
  • A full skeleton of a wild horse is played out in the high desert and was likely killed by a cougar. There are few predators besides mountain lions and man on herds in Steens Mountain.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222865.jpg
  • Wild horses stand opposite ways to flick flies off each others faces with their tails.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222794.jpg
  • Helicopter chases a stallion that was captured but run out of the trap during a wild horse roundup.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737073.jpg
  • Helicopter hovers over a herd of wild horses during a roundup on public land.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737072.jpg
  • Scars and open wounds prove the fights are fierce. When wild stallions battle for mares and status in the hierarchy of a herd, the injuries can be brutal.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222793.jpg
  • Horses graze on steep slopes at a non-profit Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737091.jpg
  • Detail of the main on a colorful wild horse rescued from the Sheldon Wildlife Refuge.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222830.jpg
  • Mustangs gallop in a tight pack as hired contractors herd large numbers of horses into a trap chasing them with helicopters. Nearly panicked, they are tricked to follow a tame “Judas” horse let loose in the confusion. The trained horse runs along the jute fence and into a corral expecting food and the wild horses that follow are captured.<br />
The Jackson Mountain Herd consists of mostly brown and dun colored horses. Most were dehydrated and hungry from drought conditions on Bureau of Land Management public lands in Nevada.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1200573.TIF
  • A curious Kiger mustang band of wild horses noted for their intelligence and stamina.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_2737066.jpg
  • Brown bears competing for salmon in Kuril Lake. So many salmon—pink, chum, sockeye (above), coho, chinook, and masu—flood the waters that typically solitary brown bears crowd together
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  • A wild horse enthusiast is greeted by a band of mustangs that recognize her truck.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222821.jpg
  • A brown bear fishing for salmon in Kuril Lake. Bears need to eat about 40 fish a day to put on weight to make it through the winter.<br />
<br />
Brown bears in Kamchatka can be 7 to 9 feet in length and weigh 700-800 pounds. Species: U. arctic Genus:Ursus<br />
<br />
Kamchatka has the highest density of grizzly bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
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  • A wild horse is seriously wounded from running into a barbed wire fence. The western landscape is full of old fences that once divided ranches and they are hazards for unsuspecting wildlife.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222814.jpg
  • A wild mustang foal nuzzles a wild horse activist.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222789.jpg
  • A BLM Salt Lake Wild Horse and Burro Specialist checks her air rifle as she approaches a herd of wild horses to dart with PZP immunocontraception.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737085.jpg
  • Cattle share land grazing with wild horses throughout the West.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_2737065.jpg
  • Horses graze on green hills at Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737092.jpg
  • A mare kicks up her heels after she is hit with a dart to control horse fertility by BLM Salt Lake Wild Horse and Burro Specialist.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737087.jpg
  • A mare kicks up her heels after she is hit with a dart to control horse fertility by BLM Salt Lake Wild Horse and Burro Specialist.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737086.jpg
  • Icy water flies as a brown bear catches a salmon fish in Kuril Lake. Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260958.TIF
  • A brown bear catches a salmon fish in Kuril Lake. Bears need to eat about 40 fish a day to put on weight to make it through the winter.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260964.TIF
  • A brown bear fishing for salmon in icy waters of Kuril Lake. Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears, also known as grizzly bears, in the world. There are almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260960.TIF
  • A Kiger mustang stallion watches guard of the herd. Kiger mustangs possess a demeanor and coloration of the original Spanish mustang.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_2737067.jpg
  • A brown bear swims with his head underwater as he fishes for salmon in Kuril Lake.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260955.JPG
  • Pelicans on a cattle ranch in Nebraska. The migrating populations of white pelicans are found in spring and fall. More are residents in the summer and in the winter some can be spotted occasionally. <br />
<br />
They are some of the world's largest birds and rely on fish from rivers, lakes and wetlands.
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  • An odd juxtaposition of pelicans and cattle on a ranch in Nebraska. <br />
<br />
The migrating populations of white pelicans are found in spring and fall. More are residents in the summer and in the winter some can be spotted occasionally. <br />
<br />
They are some of the world's largest birds and rely on fish from rivers, lakes and wetlands.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_2481070-3.TIF
  • Flamingos in a volcanic crater on Central Island in Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328061.JPG
  • Flamingos in a volcanic crater on Central Island in Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328060.JPG
  • Flamingos in a volcanic crater on Central Island in Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328059.JPG
  • Tens of thousand of flamingos feed on algae in a crater lake formed on Central Island, in Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328057.JPG
  • Tens of thousand of flamingos feed on algae in a crater lake formed on Central Island, in Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328056.JPG
  • Tens of thousand of flamingos feed on algae in a crater lake formed on Central Island, in Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328029.JPG
  • Tens of thousand of flamingos feed on algae in a crater lake formed on Central Island, in Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328028.JPG
  • Tens of thousand of flamingos feed on algae in a crater lake formed on Central Island, in Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2281795.JPG
  • Flamingos and a windmill in Siboli National Park on Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328050.JPG
  • As an evening storm lights up the sky, about 413,000 sandhill cranes arrive to roost in the shallows of the Platte River.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_CRANES.tif
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328137.JPG
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328141.JPG
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328139.JPG
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328097.JPG
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328096.JPG
  • A brown bear wades into Kuril Lake to fish for salmon. Brown bears, also known as grizzlies thrive in Kamchatka’s still largely intact ecosystem.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260968.TIF
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328143.JPG
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328142.JPG
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328138.JPG
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328095.JPG
  • Lake Turkana holds the world's largest crocodile colony.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328146.JPG
  • Central Island is part of Sibiloi National Park on Lake Turkana. We did a rough count and think there were just under 100,000 in this crater in the middle of Lake Turkana, Kenya called Flamingo Lake.
    MM8259_20130820_08794.tif
  • Two birds fly across placid waters of a pond located in a gravel mine where rock is used for construction materials.
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  • Pelicans in flight above Siboli National Park on Lake Turkana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8259_2328051.JPG
  • A hunter near Mohenjo Caro, Pakistan, uses an egret headdress as a decoy to stalk birds on the Indus River.
    RANDY OLSON_06569_653335.TIF
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