20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Silverback's yawn

On a gorilla trek in Bwindi, Uganda, we spent a magical half hour with the "bweza" family ("pretty" in the local dialect). With these magnificent gentle giants on the verge of extinction - only a few hundreds left in the wild - the experience was extremely emotional. Silverback was relaxing after a major rain and thunderstorm only hours earlier. Even though he seems like he's suffering from indigestion, all the picture shows is the tail end of a yawn.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 09.2022
Date Uploaded: 11.2022
Photo Location: Uganda
Camera: NIKON D7500
Copyright: © Arie Katz