Brian Skerry

Under the snowcapped mountains of Fiordland National Park, freshwater streams empty into the saltwater fiords, creating a unique ecosystem. This is a heavily wooded park, so the water in the streams is stained with tannin, a substance found in plants that makes clean water seem dirty, though it isn't.

American Photographer

Tannin is key in turning animal hides into durable leather.

Tanning Substance

Tannin can make plants taste bitter, deterring herbivores.

Bitter Taste

Tannin-rich plants are often used to create natural dyes.

Natural Dye

Tannin affects the aging potential and mouthfeel of wine.

Wine Characteristic

Red wines typically have more tannin than white wines.

Red vs White

Tannin levels can diminish over time, softening the wine's taste.

Aging Influence

Some tannins can be toxic to animals, affecting their health.

Animal Caution

Tannins serve as a defense mechanism for plants against predators.

Plant Defense

High tannin levels in plants can indicate environmental stress.

Environmental Indicator

 to set down our helicopter because the weather was getting bad but I wanted to make an aerial picture of a place called Fiordland which is a very Lord of the Rings kind of an environment it's this beautiful mountainous region with fjords and freshwater rivers that are stained with tannin lead into the ocean and

Crucial Waters PIPE...

 here the the trees have got large leaves to pump the water from the bottom and we don't have too many thorny trees up here because they don't really want to slow down the feeding from herbivores they mainly have tannin in them to prevent them being eaten by insects and as you

Safari Live - Day 150 PIPE...

 to regulate the predation activities because here where I am this is the only plant which is having the leaves which means this is gonna attract some of the animals to come here so I'm sure this plant is having a high level of tannin

Safari Live - Day 214 PIPE...

 cleared the previous plant life now paves the way for the first stages of succession surely forest fires are too devastating to have any positives for the plant kingdom nope not when there's fire resistant trees Pines have tannin

Meet the World's Tiniest...

 who had the leather noose around his neck and had a leather hat. You know everybody talks about his peaceful gaze and the tannin, the soil that he is in is the thing that has made their bodies so dark. It's like tanning a saddle.

Photographer’s Journey...

 us his bottom right now let's move around see if we can get on the other side now he's feeding on some lovely grasses underneath the tree and a little three okay that's so much tannin in magic worry wonder if he's actually

Safari Live - Day 133 PIPE...

 strange creatures on me yeah they're good sea pens because they look like this beautiful long haven't closed happy we used to write with okay like everything else beneath the tannin layer these sea pens are animals

What is a Sea Pen? PIPE...

 the of spider's web that is may fit into the leaves and we're also going to taste the leaves because now that they're dry I'm wondering if they're rather bitter nasty tannin taste hasn't gone

Safari Live - Day 182 PIPE...

 you would crush it up over the top of your gymnast boreal salad and you were defeated two worst enemy and they would be so disgusted by what you had given them tannin mixed with turpentine

Safari Live - Day 142 PIPE...

 now that tree that they're eating there's gymnast pouria bucks if olya and gymnast pouria bucks if olya is known for very very high tannin content and somehow these Impala are managing to