2015 Photo Contest, Nature, 3rd prize

Cold Blood Colombia

Photographer

Paolo Marchetti

30 April, 2014

One of two weekly meals for 250 adult caiman lies beside their tank, at a farm in northern Colombia. The animals are fed a mix of minced cattle offal with up to 20 percent caiman meat.

The skin of Colombian caimans, once considered inferior to alligator or crocodile, is now prized for its durability and quality. Production has soared since the 1990s. These days, most skins are obtained from farmed animals, rather than from the wild, and farmers are legally obliged to return a number of caiman to the wild to replenish natural stocks.

About the photographer

Paolo Marchetti

Paolo Marchetti is a freelance photojournalist, based in Italy. He has been working for about 13 years in the cinematographic and commercial industry, and began in the meantime h...

Technical information

Shutter Speed
1/125
Focal length
24.0 mm
F-Stop
8.0
ISO
280
Camera
Nikon D600

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