Photo of the Day 10 December 2007

Fruit Bats at Dusk, Zambia, 2007

Photograph by Frans Lanting

Epauletted fruit bats speckle a saffron-colored sky at sunset in Zambia's Luangwa Valley. Millions of these bats come to roost in the valley's trees and feed off the explosion of fruits during the rainy season, when the Luangwa River overflows its banks and transforms the dry, dusty landscape into an emerald wildlife paradise.

Photo of the Day 9 December 2007

Striped Cricket on Leaf, Southeast Asia, 2001

Photograph by Timothy Laman

Stripes meet stars in this night shot of a cricket in a Southeast Asian forest. In jungles throughout the world, the sinking sun summons a menagerie of rarely seen creatures that slither, leap, and buzz while the forest's more familiar creatures sleep.

Photo of the Day 8 December 2007

Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 2000

Photograph by James Stanfield

Built as the hilltop home of Athens's patron goddess, Athena, the Acropolis—and its most famous structure, the Parthenon, at right—recall the classical area of the ancient city-state that witnessed a brilliant flowering of art, architecture, philosophy, and democracy in the fifth century B.C. Today, government, tourism, and shipping dominate the economy in Greece's modern-day capital.

Photo of the Day 7 December 2007

Insect Eaten Leaf, Puerto Rico, 2004

Photograph by Peter Essick

Light permeates an insect-eaten leaf in Caribbean National Forest, Puerto Rico. The only tropical rain forest in the United States' national forest system, Caribbean National Forest is a 28,000-acre (11,330-hectare) preserve to the east of the capital, San Juan. It receives, on average, a whopping 15 feet (4.5 meters) of rain each year.

Photo of the Day 6 December 2007

Humpback Whale, South Africa, 2002

Photograph by David Doubilet

Forty tons of gleaming muscle, a humpback whale blasts out of the water near South Africa. Found in coastal waters worldwide, humpbacks are known for their magical songs, haunting sequences of moans, howls, cries, and other noises that often continue for hours on end. Scientists believe they communicate and attract mates through song.

Photo of the Day 5 December 2007

Car in Motion, Big Sur, California, 2000

Photograph by Frans Lanting

A car speeds past a rock formation on the roadside in Big Sur, California. Each year more than three million visitors navigate the treacherous turns of Highway 1 near Big Sur, drawn by the plunging gorges, fog-strewn coves, exploding surf, and tortuous geography—5,000-foot (1,524-meter) summits plummet abruptly to the ocean—of California's dramatic 90-mile (145-kilometer) coast.

Photo of the Day 4 December 2007

Coiled Jararaca Snake, Brazil, 2001

Photograph by George Grall

A young jararaca snake lies coiled on a mossy piece of ground in the Brazilian rain forest. These venomous pit vipers, members of the lancehead, or fer-de-lance, family, are common throughout their range and are responsible for a large number of snakebites in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

Photo of the Day 3 December 2007

Courtyard, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2003

Photograph by Brooks Walker

Switzerland's capital of dirndls and schnitzel, Lucerne is known for the Alpine charm of its snowcapped mountains, green vistas, and slice-of-life vignettes like this cobblestone courtyard.

The city of 60,000 sits in the center of Switzerland at the northwest end of Lake Lucerne. Encircled by a photogenic range of mountains and bisected by the River Reuss, Lucerne is beloved for its storybook charm.

Photo of the Day 2 December 2007

Monaco Cathedral, Monaco, 1996

Photograph by Jodi Cobb

Built in 1875 from white stone from La Turbie, a French alpine village, the neo-Romanesque Monaco Cathedral houses the tombs of former princes and Princess Grace. Monaco occupies a rocky strip of land on France's Mediterranean coast, but its size belies its reputation as one of the world's most upscale resort destinations known for glitz, glamour, and the good life.

Photo of the Day 1 December 2007

Honeybees, Maine, 2007

Photograph by Peter Essick

Swarming honeybees, like these on Maine's Appledore Island, frequently differ about where to establish a new nest. But the group usually chooses the best site. Bees reach this decision by gathering information, conducting independent evaluations, and holding a kind of vote. Scientists are studying such swarm intelligence—note the yellow and blue identifier dots on the bees in this photo—for clues about how humans might manage complex systems, from truck routing to military robots.

Photo of the Day 30 November 2007

Monkeys at Watering Hole, India, 1997

Photograph by Michael Nichols

A troop of Hanuman langur monkeys drinks from a watering hole used by tigers in India's Bandhavgarh National Park. Named after the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, these lanky, long-tailed monkeys are found in the humid forests, swamps, and even urban areas of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar (Burma).

Photo of the Day 29 November 2007

Dinosaur Fossils, Niger, 1997

Photograph by George Steinmetz

In Niger's Ténéré desert, a ridge of protruding bones suggests a dramatically different past. Millions of years ago, the parched plains of the Ténéré were spread with thick forests and broad rivers home to crocodiles, turtles, fish, and dinosaurs, including Suchomimus tenerensis, a recently discovered crocodile-like creature.

Photo of the Day 28 November 2007

Orchid, 2004

Photograph by Robert Clark

For legendary 19th-century scientist Charles Darwin, orchids, like the dew-beaded beauty shown here, epitomized the theory of natural selection, the belief that plants and animals evolve with traits favoring survival and reproductive success. By this measure orchids are a sensational success, with 24,000 species and 60,000 registered hybrids, far more than any other flowering plant on Earth.

Photo of the Day 27 November 2007

Aerial View, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska, 2002

Photograph by Frans Lanting

The jagged University Range in Alaska's snow-draped St. Elias Mountains blushes red in the Arctic twilight. Many peaks in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park remain unnamed—and unclimbed—more than 20 years after the park was established.

Photo of the Day 26 November 2007

Butterfly on Leaf, Borneo, Malaysia, 2001

Photograph by Timothy Laman

Under the cover of darkness, a butterfly with folded wings rests gracefully on a leaf in the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Sabah, Borneo. The 170-square-mile (438-square-kilometer) conservation area is the largest undisturbed lowland rain forest in Malaysia, home to one of the world's most complex ecosystems.

Photo of the Day 25 November 2007

Swakopmund Dune Fields, Namibia, 2000

Photograph by Cary Wolinsky

Wind-sculpted dunes sprawl across the Sesriem and Sossusvlei dune area in Namibia's Namib Desert. The Namib is a cool, coastal desert that roughly translates to "an area where there is nothing" in the Nama language. It is known for its dramatic dunes, including the crescent-shaped barchan dunes shown here, some of which can reach 100 feet (30 meters) high and 1,200 feet (370 meters) wide.

Photo of the Day 24 November 2007

Sky Disk at Twilight, Germany, 2004

Photograph by Kenneth Garrett

Found buried in a hill in the town of Nebra in 1600 B.C., this 3,600-year-old sky disk reflects cloud-strewn skies in central Germany. The disk, which tracks the sun's movements along the horizon, contains the oldest known depiction of the night sky and may have served as an agricultural and spiritual calendar.

Photo of the Day 23 November 2007

West Indian Manatee, Florida, 1998

Photograph by Wes Skiles

A West Indian manatee drifts through crystal-clear water in a North Florida spring. Hundreds of these gentle giants migrate from coastal habitats to the springs each winter to bask in their constant and comparatively balmy 72-degree Fahrenheit (22-degree Celsius) waters.

Photo of the Day 22 November 2007

Trampoline Jumper, Tennessee, 2001

Photograph by Vincent J. Musi

A jumper vaults out of frame on a backyard trampoline in Dayton, Tennessee. Now a quiet community of about 6,500, this Bible Belt town was the site of the famous 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial, in which Dayton teacher John Scopes was convicted of violating a Tennessee law against teaching evolution in public schools.

Photo of the Day 21 November 2007

African Wild Dog Pups, Botswana, 1999

Photograph by Chris Johns

A trio of young African wild dog pups plays near a den in Botswana's Okavango Delta. Thought to be domesticated dogs gone feral, wild dogs have borne the brunt of extensive extermination programs. Today there are fewer than 5,000 wild dogs alive, which make them Africa's most endangered large carnivore.

Photo of the Day 20 November 2007

Desert Landscape, Jordan, 1999

Photograph by Annie Griffiths Belt

Wind-combed dunes meet parched mud flats in Wadi Rum, a stark desertscape in southwestern Jordan. Revered for its dramatic sandstone and granite rock faces cut into a breathtaking span of sunbaked desert, Wadi Rum was made famous by Lawrence of Arabia, who based his operations there during the Arab Revolt.

Photo of the Day 19 November 2007

Swans, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1999

Photograph by Jim Richardson

Brooding skies cast a lavender glow on a flock of mute swans gliding across a crag-ringed loch in Edinburgh, Scotland. As their name suggests, mute swans are usually silent, limited by a straight trachea. However, they occasionally snort, hiss, or bark. The graceful Cygnus olor communicates mostly through visual displays and postures.

Photo of the Day 18 November 2007

Baby in a Bicycle Basket, Cambodia, 2000

Photograph by Steve McCurry

A baby in a makeshift bike basket stares into the camera in Angkor, Cambodia. It's common in some Buddhist cultures to shave children's heads, often leaving a small unshaved tuft above the forehead.

Photo of the Day 17 November 2007

Fur Seal, Falkland Islands, 1987

Photograph by Steven Raymer

A Falkland Islands fur seal perches on a rock outcrop off New Island, where seafood-rich waters nourish a wildlife population diverse in nature and often astonishing in number. Fur seal populations here have rebounded to merely modest levels after a hunting bloodbath in the early 19th century brought the subspecies to the brink of extinction.

Photo of the Day 16 November 2007

Monster Truck Jump, Pennsylvania, 2004

Photograph by Sarah Leen

A monster truck displays its brute power at a stunt rally in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. America's love affair with automobiles spans far and wide, from monster truck rallies and race car shows to supersize SUVs. That love affair translates to big consumption: The U.S. slurps up to a quarter of the world's oil—about three gallons (11 liters) a person every day—even though it has just 5 percent of the world's population.