In the eye of the colobus

A black gaze rimmed in white, almost fixed. A leaf chewed in silence. And around it, a dense sea of ​​tropical ferns.

Deep in the heart of the Jozani Forest in Zanzibar, this photograph isolates a Zanzibar red colobus (Piliocolobus kirkii), an endangered endemic species, in its natural environment.

Selected by 1X.com , the image is part of a documentary approach that rejects exoticism or dramatization. The frame is tight, the light natural, the scene undisturbed. The animal's gaze pierces the vegetation, like a response without language.

A portrait without artifice

Unlike classic representations of tropical fauna, this image does not rely on action or spectacular posing. It favors immersion , mimicry between plant forms and fur, and the soft frontality of the gaze .

The human presence is not visible, but it is there—contained, respectful, at a distance. The colobus is not frozen by a flash; it continues its meal, its feet buried in the ferns , in a scene of pure coexistence.

An emblematic but endangered species

The red colobus is one of Zanzibar's few endemic primates. Long hunted or displaced by deforestation, it is now protected in certain areas such as the Jozani Forest. However, its survival still depends on the preservation of natural habitats and the ability of humans to coexist with it in a sustainable balance.

This photograph shows this fragile balance, without staging, by letting the animal remain the subject and not the object .

An image from Valorizing the Invisible

This portrait is part of the series Valoriser l'Invisible , which explores life forms or gestures in danger of disappearing , whether human or not. Here, it is the animal itself that becomes a witness to its own programmed erasure—and its silent resilience.