Issue 2025.04

Nurtured
by Nature

Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda High in the Virunga Mountains, the park staff know the resident mountain gorillas by name. Wild but habituated to the presence of humans, my experience meeting Kabatwa and her twins, Isango Gakuru and Isango Gato, was one of the most magnificent moments of my career. I remember it was raining lightly that day. Kabatwa was holding the twins close to keep them warm. I felt like she could sense my reverence and fierce hope for her twins’ survival. They have since grown to become only the second known surviving pair of mountain gorilla twins.

↑ Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda High in the Virunga Mountains, the park staff know the resident mountain gorillas by name. Wild but habituated to the presence of humans, my experience meeting Kabatwa and her twins, Isango Gakuru and Isango Gato, was one of the most magnificent moments of my career. I remember it was raining lightly that day. Kabatwa was holding the twins close to keep them warm. I felt like she could sense my reverence and fierce hope for her twins’ survival. They have since grown to become only the second known surviving pair of mountain gorilla twins.

A Portfolio of the Animal Kingdom’s Strongest Bonds

Words and Images by Suzi Eszterhas & Minden Pictures

Suzi Eszterhas is a wildlife photographer known for her rare ability to capture the intimate, everyday moments of animals in the wild. From the remote corners of Africa to the icy landscapes of the Arctic, she spends months at a time in the field, building trust with her subjects and waiting patiently for the right moment to unfold.

Her work often focuses on the tender relationships between animal mothers and their young, offering a window into the hidden world of wildlife family life. With deep empathy and unwavering dedication, Suzi uses her photography to connect people to the world of wildlife and inspire a greater appreciation for the creatures we share it with.

Gunung Leuser National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia Goofing around isn’t just for human children. This 1.5-year-old Sumatran orangutan was having fun dangling from mom’s fur. He spent the first six months of his life either cradled in his mom’s arms or attached to her body. He’s a little more independent now as a toddler. Mom will spend about 8 years rearing this little guy, one of the longest parent commitments in the animal kingdom.
Orangutan Care Center, Borneo, Indonesia A 2-year-old orangutan infant plays in a tree. The center teaches orphaned orangutans all the skills they need to live in the wild. It takes six to nine long years for an orangutan to learn the skills, which is the same amount of time they’d be with their mother in the wild.
Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana A trip to the waterhole is always exciting for a baby elephant. Elephants have incredible memories, and the adult members of this baby’s family know exactly where to find water. In time, the baby will develop this mental map as well. Often, they walk to water in a straight line, demonstrating their knowledge of the precise location of these sites. I photographed this baby elephant from an underground hide so I was eye level with the elephant’s feet, which put me closer to eye level with the baby.
Berenty Reserve, Madagascar Ring-tailed lemurs are enchanting little primates and, unfortunately, are endangered. As are most lemurs, they’re threatened primarily by deforestation and habitat loss. I photographed them where they live in semiarid spiny forests. Like orangutans, baby lemurs are clingers who stick to their Mom like glue.
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda For the first six months of his life, this baby gorilla’s mother held him and rarely put him down. He was pretty much stuck to her like velcro. Now, at the age of a year and a half, he may explore on his own and play with other youngsters, but he is rarely more than a few feet from Mom. Like humans, gorilla babies have prolonged childhoods and nurse until they are 3 to 4 years old.
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda I will never forget this moment. It was my first trip to Rwanda, and this 10-month-old mountain gorilla climbed up a bamboo stalk to about my eye level, then stopped and looked straight at me. The memory of sharing such a rare and intimate encounter with a baby gorilla still gives me shivers today. To me, this image is about vulnerability and how this gorilla’s future is in our hands. With habitat protection, anti-poaching programs, and a lucrative eco-tourism operation, mountain gorillas have come back from the brink of extinction.
Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary, Costa Rica I photographed this Hoffman’s two-toed sloth and her baby near Cahuita National Park in Costa Rica. Sloths have just one baby at a time and that baby clings to mom for the first 6 months of its life. Sloths are endearing for many reasons, one being that they have mouths shaped in what appears to us as a grin. In this case, I think they really were smiling. Mom and baby had lost their home tree to logging and were rescued and rehabilitated by a local sloth sanctuary. I took this photo shortly after they were released back into the wild, in an area permanently safe from logging and other forms of deforestation.
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica Sloths spend most of their time in the trees, even giving birth while suspended in the canopy. After an 11-month gestation, a mother sloth will move to a lower branch where she gives birth hanging and tries to catch her baby. The newborn’s instinct is to immediately cling to Mom. Things don’t always go as planned, though. The mother initially moves to a lower branch in case her newborn falls to the ground, which happens often.
Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya Cheetahs have always captivated me. My first big dream as a wildlife photographer was to live with a cheetah family, so I moved to Kenya and lived in a bush camp. There are only 7,000 cheetahs left in all of Africa, and seeing newborns is extremely rare because moms keep them so well hidden. This photo is incredibly special to me because the cubs were just 5 days old. I’d spent weeks tracking this mother while she was pregnant in hopes of sharing this very moment.
Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya This cheetah mom had a litter of three older cubs that I got to know particularly well in my first 18 months in the Maasai Mara. Cheetah cubs are among the most playful of all mammals, which means their moms are quite tolerant to their cubs’ antics. Scientists have concluded that play serves an important functional purpose for youngsters. By pouncing on Mom’s head, this 6-week-old cub is improving her hunting skills and coordination while building strength. But I think play is also emotional. I’ve seen so much joy in baby animal play.
Kibale National Park, Uganda Chimpanzees are born with peach faces, and looking them in the eye feels very human. This little guy is about 1 year old. Working with this particular community of chimpanzees was amazingly intimate. They’ve been under study for 30 years, and the chimpanzees are so habituated that they sometimes got too close to me for their own good. I often had to step back from their curious advances to protect them from catching my human germs.
Kibale National Park, Uganda This 4 month old is suckling and will continue to do so until she’s about four years old. Chimps and humans share 96% of the same genes and I really noticed the similarities while photographing this scene. Mom was snuggling her baby tenderly and looking down at her so sweetly. I learned that this is typical behavior. The researchers even discovered that baby female chimps will use pieces of bark, wood, and other forest debris as dolls that they carry around and cuddle.
Joa Reserve, Botswana A 7-week-old leopard cub suckling on its mother. Leopard cubs suckle for the first three months of their lives, and sometimes longer, depending on the mother. When the mother is present at the den site, they’ll suckle several times a day, often while she’s sleeping.
Joa Reserve, Botswana Leopards are the most elusive of the big cats and notoriously secretive with their young. They’ve been known to trick safari vehicles by leading them away from den sites. It took me three years just to find the right location for a photography project. The Joa Reserve is so well-protected that it contains leopards, like this mother, who are free from negative associations with humans and vehicles. As such, mom offered me extraordinary glimpses into her den. I had the honor of documenting her and her two cubs’ lives over the course of 18 months.
Yellowstone National Park, Montana With baby-animal play, parents don’t always appear to appreciate the encounter, but many, like this female bison, clearly enjoy it. Mom went head-to-head with the baby for several minutes, much to my delight. Adult bison butt heads for a couple of reasons, most commonly males competing with other males over females and in self-defense. This calf is 1 month old, weighing in at less than 100 pounds compared to mom’s scale-tipping 1,000 pounds, so it’s hardly a fair match. Luckily, it’s all for fun.
Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya In the golden morning light of Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, a lion cub meets her dad for the first time. I’d been following this pride for three months, even before mom gave birth, and knew the cubs were ready to leave the den. I was ecstatic to be there for this once-in-a-lifetime moment. Mom led her three cubs across a grassy area to a rock where dad was waiting. The cub in the photo watched him for a few minutes, shyly, before climbing the rocks. Her raised paw shows she was hesitant. She needn’t have worried because her father gave her a big sniff of approval.
Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya Watching a lioness pick up a newborn cub in her mouth was a common sight for me during my time in the Maasai Mara. What struck me about this moment was the humorously indignant cub. Cubs don’t feel any pain when Mom picks them up with her mouth — she’s quite gentle — so his expressive protest was a temper tantrum. He clearly wanted to continue doing whatever he’d been doing before Mom arrived.
Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya I spent five months with this black-backed jackal family and came to know their behavior well. It wasn’t easy in the beginning. It took me 17 days to habituate the parents to my presence. Each day, I came a little bit closer. I consider it one of my greatest exercises in patience, with an equally large reward. There’s something beautiful about gaining an animal’s trust.
Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya When these jackal pups reach a year of age, they’ll go off to find their mate for life and start a family of their own. Something special about jackal families is that grown pups don’t always leave. Sometimes they stick around and help Mom and Dad raise the next season’s litter. Scientists aren’t sure why some jackal families have helpers and some don’t, but studies have shown that families with helpers have a higher success rate of raising pups to adulthood. Plus, the helpers go on to become better parents because they have a year of babysitting experience.

To learn more about Suzi Eszterhas’s work and photo tours, visit www.suzieszterhas.com.

2025.04

Contents

  1. Surprises in Camera Trapping with Wolves in Alaska
  2. Using Adobe Lightroom to Enhance Landscapes
  3. Fighting to Save Scarlet Macaws in the Maya Biosphere Reserve
  4. National Geographic Pioneer David Doubilet Reflects on a Lifetime in the Ocean
  5. The Art of Making Flight Visible
  6. The Hidden Crisis of Animal Exploitation
  7. A Portfolio of the Animal Kingdom's Strongest Bonds
  8. Pangolin Populations Withering Worldwide
  9. Photographic Observations from Death Valley National Park
  10. King Penguin Chicks Keeping Warm