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Celebrate the sacred cave: Frans Lanting at TED2014

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Frans Lanting. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Frans Lanting. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Photographer Frans Lanting returns to TED for a short reminder of what’s happening outside the walls of our beautiful glass box. “Humanity,” he says, “takes center stage at TED, but I’d like to add a voice for the animals.”

Lanting retells a story he once heard from a tribal elder not far from Vancouver, about the animals of the Earth. The elder told him that though all animals look unique, inside they are one. They once would gather in the sacred forest to celebrate their unity, shedding their skins and dancing. But they were discovered by a human, who mocked them, and since then the dance has been lost.

Says Lanting, we must reach beyond the differences in our genetic makeup to see what we have in common with all things. And as he shows some of his stunning natural photos, he reminds us: “As citizens of a planet in trouble, it is our moral responsibility to deal with the dramatic loss of diversity in life.”