Photo of the Day 26 December 2007

Stick Mantid, Cameroon, 2006
Photograph by Mark Moffett
Most of the roughly 1,800 species of mantids—often called praying mantises—spend their time sitting and waiting, seemingly at prayer. These highly skilled hunters and masters of disguise have fascinated humans for thousands of years; the ancient Greeks first used the term mantis, meaning "prophet."

Photo of the Day 25 December 2007

Child on Swing, Siorapaluk, Greenland, 2006
Photograph by David McLain
A flawless blue Arctic sky frames a child swinging in Siorapaluk, Greenland, the northernmost permanent settlement in the world. During the past few decades, temperatures have risen in Greenland by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius)—twice the global average—and the island's massive ice sheet is melting faster than at any time during the past 50 years, pushing the Arctic ecosystem into collapse.

Photo of the Day 24 December 2007

Diving in Devil's Ear, Florida, 1998
Photograph by Wes Skiles
Plant tannins from the Santa Fe River mixed with diamond-clear aquifer waters make this cave entrance in Florida's Ginnie Spring appear engulfed in flames. The entrance, called Devil's Ear, is just one portal of hundreds in northern Florida leading to a watery underworld that explorers are slowly bringing to light.

Photo of the Day 23 December 2007

Arctic Fox, Hudson Bay, Canada, 2004
Photograph by Norbert Rosing
A stealthy arctic fox steals across a snow-patched ridge in Canada's Hudson Bay. Not much larger than a big housecat, these seemingly delicate northern mammals are as hardy as they come, thriving in the privation and bitter cold of the Arctic north.

Photo of the Day 22 December 2007

Bengal Tiger, India, 1995
Photograph by Michael Nichols
A perfectly posed young Bengal tiger rests in a clearing in India's Bandhavgarh National Park. This individual is likely the offspring of Sita, a tigress famed in the park for her hunting prowess and prized for her prolific breeding.

Photo of the Day 21 December 2007

Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska, 2003
Photograph by Frans Lanting
Streams of ice flow together like rivers, forming glacier complexes that cover hundreds—sometimes thousands—of square miles in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Covering more than 13 million acres (5.2 million hectares), Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest national park in the U.S. Nearly six Yellowstones could fit within its borders.

Photo of the Day 20 December 2007

Harp Seal, Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Canada, 2003
Photograph by Brian Skerry
A young seal looks warily around an icy whelping site in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence. Seals that are weaned and have shed their downy fur are called beaters for the way they beat their flippers on the water. Their sleek, unmarred pelts are prime quarry for seal hunters.

Photo of the Day 19 December 2007

Twilight on Vancouver Island, Canada, 2003
Photograph by Joel Sartore
On Vancouver Island a soaked beach reflects a contemplative evening ride. At 12,079 square miles (31,285 square kilometers), Vancouver Island is the largest island on North America's Pacific Coast. Separated from mainland Canada by several straits, the island is actually the peak of a sunken mountain range.

Photo of the Day 18 December 2007

Herodes Atticus Theater, Athens, Greece, 2000
Photograph by Borchi Massimo
In a ritual that has taken place for centuries, an expectant assemblage awaits a dramatic entrance by performers under darkening skies in the Herodes Atticus Theater in Athens, Greece. This steep-sloped amphitheater was built around A.D. 160 by Greek philosopher and rhetorician Herodes Atticus as a tribute to his wife. The theater still hosts music, dance, and theatrical events today.

Photo of the Day 17 December 2007

West Indian Manatee, Florida, 1999
Photograph by Wes Skiles
Like many creatures, the manatee's bulk—they can be as much as 13 feet (4 meters) long and 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms)—belies its aquatic grace. Also called sea cows, manatees are graceful swimmers that typically glide along coastal waters at 5 to 15 miles an hour (8 to 24 kilometers an hour). This West Indian manatee is wintering in a North Florida spring, attracted by the region's constant 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius) waters.

Photo of the Day 16 December 2007

High Tide Jump, Barry Island, Wales, 2001
Photograph by Vincent Musi
The boys of Barry Island, Wales, spend summer days seaside, anticipating exhilarating plunges into cold coastal waters. Bordering England for more than 150 miles (241 kilometers), Wales shares a long history with its neighbor. Despite its shared past, the country still embraces a unique culture of its own.

Photo of the Day 15 December 2007

Humboldt County, California, 1999
Photograph by Catherine Karnow
A car navigates a scenic stretch of California's Lost Coast. Bordered by dozens of peaks rising more than 2,000 feet (610 meters), the Lost Coast in Humboldt County hugs an 80-mile (130-kilometer) stretch of rugged coastline in northern California. The area also hosts the largest stretch of wilderness beach in the lower 48.

Photo of the Day 14 December 2007

Cullman County Fair, Alabama, 1996
Photograph by Randy Olson
A glittering swing ride gives county fairgoers an exhilarating aerial view of Cullman, Alabama, at twilight. Elkanah Watson organized America's first county fair in 1811 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to teach people about farming and animal husbandry. Today, fewer than 3 percent of Americans are directly engaged in farming, but county fairs endure as an opportunity to celebrate agricultural traditions.

Photo of the Day 13 December 2007

Silhouette of African Cheetahs, Africa, 1999

Photograph by Chris Johns

A striking silhouette shows off the lithe form of a cheetah approaching a tree for a late afternoon slumber. The fastest land animal in the world, cheetahs once thrived in Africa and Asia, but lion predation haunts their young, and farms and ranching have reduced their habitat. Today an estimated 12,000 cheetahs live in 30 countries, helped by conservationists.

Photo of the Day 12 December 2007

Red Fox, Denali National Park, Alaska, 2001

Photograph by Joel Sartore

In Alaska's Denali National Park, a red fox opens wide for a yawn. Foxes are masters of adaptation, allowing them to thrive despite environmental pressures. They live in forests, grasslands, mountains, deserts, and even human environments such as farms and suburban areas. They are solitary hunters that feed on rodents, rabbits, birds, small game—even fish, frogs, worms, and garbage.

Photo of the Day 11 December 2007

Blue Hole, Lighthouse Reef, Belize, 2002

Photograph by David Doubilet

Approximately 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Belize City, the almost perfectly circular Blue Hole is more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) across and some 400 feet (123 meters) deep.

The hole is the opening to what was a dry cave system during the Ice Age. When the ice melted and the sea level rose, the caves were flooded, creating what is now a magnet for intrepid divers. Today the Blue Hole is famed for its sponges, barracuda, corals, angelfish—and a school of sharks often seen patrolling the hole’s edge.

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.