@natgeo

Photo by @javier_aznar_photography | An eyelash viper feeds on a masked tree frog in the Ecuadorian Chocó rainforest at night. Follow @javier_aznar_photography to see more images. #insitu #viper #wild #ecuador

Photo by @jasperdoest | Morning fog dances over the rainforest canopy in Lopé National Park. Gabon is the second most forested country on Earth, forming part of the great Congo Basin rainforest that stretches across central Africa. In tropical rainforests, fog is produced from the temperature changes between day and night. As the rainforest warms, the water in the atmosphere evaporates and forms clouds—which generate rain the next day. With its transpiration and evaporation processes, the tropical rainforest plays a key role in regulating Earth's water cycle. These rainforests help regulate rainfall throughout Africa, carrying water to the Blue Nile, which helps maintain the stability of the African continent. This image was created during a licensed drone flight and was taken in accordance with local regulations. Follow @jasperdoest for more images of the wonders of nature. #gabon #rainforest #aerial

Photos by @andreabruce. Text by Rebecca Sanchez @rbeckslee. In our article on “keepers of community” in the September issue of National Geographic magazine, read about Sonia Ventura. She is part of the glue that holds her community of Vieques, Puerto Rico, together. Before her death at the age of 79 late last year, Sonia Ventura evoked the aura of a spirited youth. Even seeing her at a distance, standing beneath the beating sun on hot gravel and surrounded by roosters, the first thing you noticed was the way her hands danced. She spoke fast and without breaks, gesturing wildly as she moved in conversation, effortlessly, between God and gossip. She had stories about everyone. Born on the small island of Vieques off Puerto Rico’s eastern coast, which Viequenses call “the colony of a colony,” she was raised in New York before returning to her roots in 2003. There, she found her people in a struggle that was bad enough before the damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017 and the days of COVID-19. Many of the older residents were in dire need of care, but they refused to leave. So to help improve the quality of life for Viequenses, she started an aid organization called Corefi—Concerned Residents for Improvement. This project exists with support from @catchlight.io, @photowings, @nationalwritingproject, and @lorraineustar. Read the full story at the link in bio. To see more photos, follow me at @andreabruce #onassignment

Photo by Orsolya Haarberg @fjellheimengalleri | Two arctic terns–an adult feeding its young—are in perfect alignment on a floating ice sheet in Iceland. The beauty of life is at its purest in the planet's harshest environments. Please follow @fjellheimengalleri for more images. #arctictern #jokulsarlon #Iceland #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #sternaparadisaea

Photos by @dina_litovsky | For one week, Quebec City became the most magical place on Earth, hosting an event dubbed the Magic Olympics. The FISM World Championship of Magic has been taking place since 1948 in major cities around the world. This was the first time it came to North America. I spent a week there photographing both magicians and audiences for National Geographic. For more images, follow me @dina_litovsky.

Photo by Muhammed Muheisen @mmuheisen | I captured a blossoming tulip field in Sint Maartensvlotbrug, Netherlands, in May while working on a story about the country's flower season. For more photos and videos from different parts of the world, follow me @mmuheisen and @mmuheisenpublic. #MuhammedMuheisen #Flowers #Netherlands

Photo by @beverlyjoubert | A lofty vantage point is a useful perk even when hunting opportunities are plentiful. And there is certainly a bounty to be had when vast herds of wildebeest, zebra, and antelope trek across the Serengeti savannas and Mara plains, following the ancient, well-worn path of the Great Migration. Leopards are among the many predators that wait along the route, well aware that the passing herds offer a not-to-be-missed opportunity for sustenance. Eyes fixed firmly on the horizon, this spotted cat will be ready. #GreatMigration #leopards #bigcats

Photo by Robbie Shone @shonephoto | Explorers add scale to this massive passage known as Deer Cave—arguably the largest cave passage in the world—in Malaysian Borneo's Mulu National Park. We documented an international team of researchers, led by Nele Meckler from the University of Bergen, who are reconstructing the ancient tropical climate using dripstones as archives of past climate change. They'll study temperature and drip-water chemistry inside the caves in order to better understand the signals in the rocks.

Photo by @amivitale | Happy World Elephant Day! Wildlife keeper Mary Lengees comforts a baby orphaned elephant in her care at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary (@r.e.s.c.u.e) in northern Kenya. Reteti, the first community-owned elephant sanctuary in Africa, provides a safe place for injured elephants to heal and later return to the wild. Follow @amivitale and @r.e.s.c.u.e to learn more, including how to help. @sararafoundation @kenyawildlifeservice #babyelephants #elephants #kenya #conservation

Video by @andrea_frazzetta | The Appian Way is the most famous Roman road still in existence—and Europe’s first major highway. In its roughly 360-mile span across the country, the road takes many forms: a forested dirt path, a town plaza, a busy east-west highway. It’s not always scenic or pleasant, but it’s an immersion into a side of southern Italy few tourists see. To realize this project, I traveled and walked for seven weeks. At the end of my journey, I rediscovered my country as I’d never imagined I would. I was amazed by the beauty and outraged by the ugliness of the road’s current state of disrepair. Protection is now under way, but without visitors, the Appia could be forgotten again. As Riccardo Carnovalini, one of the most prominent Italian hikers, told me when I met with him on the trail: “Walking is the most political act one can do to change the landscape.” Follow me @andrea_frazzetta for more images from this project. #Italy #appianway #Roma #lastrada @natgeotravel

Photos by @joshirwandi | This is Jakarta, my home. Photo 1: The skyscrapers of central Jakarta loom to the northwest beyond Kampung Melayu, an urban village crowding the banks of the Ciliwung River—one of 13 that flow through the Indonesian capital. With a population of more than 10 million people, and a total density of 16,937 people per square kilometer, Jakarta is constantly beleaguered by five major issues: flooding, land subsidence, pollution, social inequality, and traffic. Photo 2: Rush hour traffic streams past the Menteng Pulo cemetery in South Jakarta. Besides facing flooding, the city struggles with air pollution: It is home to more than 20 million registered vehicles, of which 80 percent are motorbikes. In June 2022, Jakarta was recorded as the most polluted city in the world, with an Air Quality Index reaching 163—categorized as “unhealthy.” To see what the issues entail, click the link in bio. For more stories, follow @joshirwandi #jakarta #urbanplanning #cities #population #indonesia

Photos by @moisessaman | Ancient caravan kingdoms are threatened by Yemen's civil war. Moises Saman traveled through Yemen alongside @ahmedbaider to document how war is affecting its people and rich cultural heritage. In Marib, members of a wedding party made up of local tribesmen visit the ruins of the nearly 3,000-year-old Awwam Temple, where Sabaeans once worshipped their god of irrigation and agriculture. The temples of Marib are at risk as Houthis fight to seize the city. Read the full story at the link in bio.

Photo by @paoloverzone | Tim Luce, chief scientist of ITER, the giant experimental fusion reactor now under construction in southern France, stands in the pit that will house the donut-shaped tokamak. In the tokamak, hydrogen nuclei will be heated to hundreds of millions of degrees and fused into helium. ITER—designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power—will be the world's largest reactor. Nuclear fusion is the power source of the sun and the stars. When light atomic nuclei fuse together to form heavier ones, a large amount of energy is released. Fusion research is aimed at developing a safe, abundant, and environmentally responsible energy source. Read the full story at the link in bio and follow @paoloverzone for more images and stories.

Read the full story at the link in bio. Jumping spiders rapidly move their eyes and twitch during rest, suggesting they have visual dreams, never before observed in arachnids. Photo by Daniela C. Rößler

Photos by @kiliiiyuyan | Strong women leaders constitute the backbone of Indigenous American communities from Alaska to California. These include (1) model and activist Quannah Rose Chasinghorse, (2) cultural fire manager Margo Robbins, (3) redwood forest stewards of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, and (4) language revivalist Gisele Martin. Historically, many Native societies in North America were egalitarian in structure, and that continues to this day. Follow me @kiliiiyuyan for more from the greater Indigenous community.