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Explore some of our planet’s least known and most spectacular habitats—from rainforest canopies to deep ocean reefs—and see why they’re worth protecting.

Rogues of the Rainforest 03.22.2023 Article - Tropical vines are wandering, as they always have, but recent environmental changes are giving them an edge over other rainforest plants—a shift that could have enduring impacts on climates around the globe.
A Mediterranean rainbow wrasse shelters in Neptune seagrass, which is likely the oldest living organism on Earth. A single patch of seagrass found in the Mediterranean Sea off Spain is estimated to be between 80,000 and 200,000 years old. From Weed to Wonder 03.11.2023 Photo Essay - Once dismissed as an underwater nuisance, scientists are beginning to see seagrass meadows as vital to marine and coastal health.
Faces stained from digging in mud, snow geese pause to take measure of their surroundings before returning to their feast. The gray birds are juveniles, the white birds with black wings are adults. Photography by Nancy Crowell Washington’s Runaway Snow Geese 01.24.2023 Article - Mae West said too much of a good thing is wonderful. But she’d never seen the beautiful, marauding snow geese that swoop in each fall to take over Washington State’s Skagit Valley.
Cats vs. Dogs 01.24.2023 Spotlight - High in the Himalayas, a photographer searches for an elusive wildcat—and finds it in an unlikely hideout.
The Newt Normal 01.13.2023 Photo Essay - Droughts, wildfires, floods, and other extreme weather events are putting an unprecedented strain on California newts. With help, scientists think these remarkable animals will be able to persevere.
Like other salmon, sockeye die after spawning, providing important nutrients to surrounding ecosystems. Trouble at Sea 01.11.2023 Article - For salmon in the North Pacific, has the ocean reached its limit?
Two Iberian lynx peer over rocky outcrops. Photograph by Andoni Canela Bounding Toward Recovery 01.03.2023 Article - The Iberian lynx—one of the world’s most endangered cats—made a giant leap toward a comeback in just a few years, easing the way for other species to follow in its path.
The Sharavati River flows through the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Photograph by Dhritiman Mukherjee Seeing the River for the Fish 11.03.2022 Article - Scientists and local communities are working to save an iconic but little-known species of fish in India—but first, they have to find it.
A lone dragon’s blood tree in the Momi Valley of Socotra. Photograph by Neil Lucas Saving the Dragon’s Blood 10.12.2022 Article - Despite a range of threats, from droughts and cyclones to goats and militarization, Socotra's iconic trees are staging a slow, patient comeback—with the help of the people who know them best.
A Way Forward with Wolves 09.10.2022 Article - Washington state’s long-running conflict between wolves and ranchers mirrors our society’s bigger ideological rifts. Some are trying to bridge the gap—using both horse and technology.
The Saguaro Solution 08.18.2022 Article - Can a massive effort to replant cacti in the Sonoran Desert restore an ecosystem ravaged by fire?
Shot in the Dark 07.14.2022 Spotlight - Africa’s black leopards are shrouded in mystery, but groundbreaking photography is bringing them to light.
A levee divides a parched salt pond from a burgeoning wetland. Past the Salt 07.14.2022 Article - In San Francisco’s salty South Bay, an ambitious wetlands restoration project is seeking to balance a return to the ecological past with the realities of a changing future.
The Big Picture 2022 The Big Picture 2022 06.08.2022 Photo Gallery - From the beautiful to the bizarre, this photographic showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet's most amazing species and places.
A chambered nautilus and fuzzy nautilus swim side-by-side. Photograph by Peter Ward Downward Spiral 06.04.2022 Article - The nautilus’s lineage made it through all five of Earth’s previous mass extinctions. But can it survive the Anthropocene?
Love Train 06.03.2022 Spotlight - The Kangaroo Island echidna may seem bizarre, but the spiky mammal’s quirks have helped it survive cataclysmic change.
Methow Valley resident Ken Bevis salvages a deer recently struck by a car. Atonement in the Kitchen 06.03.2022 Article - One way to make sense of the senseless slaughter of roadkill? Salvage it for food.
A greater one-horned rhino surveys its terrain in Kaziranga National Park, India. Photograph by Anup Shah To Rewild a Rhino 05.10.2022 Article - In northeastern India, taking care of a vulnerable species also means looking after the humans who live alongside it.
Kids from the Wemmershoek School observe a Cape galaxias caught during a citizen science outing on the Wemmershoek River near Cape Town. The tiny Cape galaxias, endemic to the region, is one of the most ancient lineages of fynbos fish, dating back to the time of Gondwanaland. Clear Water Revival 05.02.2022 Photo Essay - In a biodiversity wonderland hardly known outside South Africa, a decades-long effort to restore native fish and their streams is starting to pay off—but new trouble could undermine this fragile comeback.
Ghana’s Sacred Monkeys 04.19.2022 Article - Myth and mystery have long protected two species of monkey and the West African forests they depend on, but for how much longer?
City Owl, Country Owl 01.21.2022 Spotlight - Unlike their more iconic cousins, diminutive northern pygmy owls occasionally manage to raise families in urban forests—some little more than a stone’s throw from the local café.
Snuggle for Survival 12.26.2021 Spotlight - Teamwork helps the world’s largest penguin species thrive under the harshest conditions.
Breakfast with a Garbage Bin Breakfast with a “Garbage Bin” 12.02.2021 Spotlight - Socotra’s gregarious Egyptian vultures are a bright spot in an otherwise sobering global story.
Nomads of the North 11.24.2021 Photo Essay - A writer and photographer shares an intimate portrait of the annual migration and uncertain future of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd.
Sign designating the National Wild and Scenic section of the Rio Chama. A River’s Right to Flow 10.22.2021 Article - Indigenous communities and conservationists around the world are challenging the view of water as a human commodity, and fighting to keep this precious resource in the ecosystems it sustains. Can the same approach work in the arid Southwest?
Starling-Studded Skies 07.13.2021 Photo Essay - A modern approach to a 19th-century photography technique celebrates both the art and science behind one of the planet’s most mesmerizing spectacles.
A Cicada calls from a plant with the Cincinnati, Ohio skyline in the background on June 12, 2021. Signs of the Times 07.08.2021 Article - Despite their perceived abundance, the periodical cicadas that emerged across the eastern United States this summer point to a growing set of threats facing both the insects themselves and the ecosystems they help support.
The Big Picture 2021 05.27.2021 Photo Gallery - From the beautiful to the bizarre, this photographic showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet's most amazing species and places.
This Antarctic glacier is one of the remains of the once huge Larsen B ice shelf, which infamously collapsed in 2002 over the course of a single month. Such a large area of ice collapsing so quickly was an unprecedented event in scientific history. Photograph by Armin Rose / Shutterstock Antarctica’s Upside Down World 05.12.2021 Article - Clinging to the underside of ice hundreds of meters thick, strange communities of sea life eke out a living in perpetual darkness. Now, researchers are racing to find and study these creatures before they—and their ice sheets—disappear.
The Espinhaço mountains are centers of endemism and diversity for several groups of flora and fauna, including hummingbirds. Here, a white-vented violetear approaches the flowers of a Stachytarpheta glabra in Sempre Vivas National Park to feed on their nectar. Life, Death, and Renewal in the Campo Rupestre 04.22.2021 Photo Essay - In a little-known region of Brazil that calls to mind Tolkien’s Middle-earth, unique lifeforms have evolved to endure innumerable environmental challenges. Can they survive the country's latest era of deregulation?
With the lighthouse peninsula in the background, a male tule elk stands on a bluff in the Tule Elk Preserve at Point Reyes National Seashore. Home on the Range 03.23.2021 Article - Once thought to be extinct, tule elk have returned to roam across California's Point Reyes National Seashore, but the park—which also supports beef and dairy cattle—is getting crowded.
Of the world’s 19 species of storks, the greater adjutant is the most endangered in the world. In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimated the global population at just 800-1200 individuals. From Reviled to Adored 02.23.2021 Photo Essay - How one community—and one woman in particular—have found a way to protect the rarest stork in the world simply by learning to appreciate the species and embracing it as one of their own.
Large kauri tree framed by green foliage, Waipoua Forest, Northland. Photograph by Arno Gasteiger. Swamp Sentinels 02.18.2021 Article - Buried in mud for millennia, some of New Zealand's ancient kauri trees are revealing surprising clues about Earth's climate—past, present, and future.
Susanna Tuffy, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator from Duxbury, Massachusetts, feeds a baby squirrel from inside her bathroom window. Tuffy cares for about 60 animals a year in her home. The Other COVID Nurses 01.01.2021 Photo Essay - Caring for sick and injured wildlife has always been challenging, but during the pandemic, for many rehabilitators, it has become a grueling, 24/7 labor of love.
A grey-headed flying fox carries her pup as she flies over Yarra Bend Park, Kew, Victoria, Australia. Mother Load 12.11.2020 Spotlight - Multitasking bat moms carry their nursing pups underwing all while navigating a growing array of threats in the Australian forests they call home.
Lens on Life 12.04.2020 Photo Gallery - While 2020 has thrown an endless string of challenges at many of us, nature hasn't gone anywhere. It's just as impressive and inspiring—and in many cases, just as imperiled as ever.
Common toads mating in the Lez River, France The Big Picture 2020 05.05.2020 Photo Gallery - From the beautiful to the bizarre, this photographic showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet's most amazing species and places.
Aerial view of Mexico's Cuatro Ciénegas Saving Mexico’s Lost World 02.18.2020 Article - Microbes have lived in Cuatro Ciénegas for 500 million years. They’ve survived countless cataclysms and extinctions. But can they survive us?
Mexico City and its Sacred Salamanders Mexico City and its Sacred Salamanders 12.10.2019 Video - Important symbols of both Mexican culture and ecosystem health, axolotls are on the brink of extinction in the wild, but a return to ancient practices offers hope for their future.
Protest signs like this one in a field in Little Valley, Virginia line the proposed route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Photograph by Steven David Johnson A (Proposed) Pipeline Runs Through It 12.03.2019 Article - The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would divide mountains, farmland, and sacred Native American land along its 600-mile route, but it's uniting a diverse community of activists determined to halt its progress.
Pools and bog peatland at dawn, Flow Country, Scotland Refilling the Carbon Sink 11.12.2019 Photo Essay - Long seen as wastelands, Scotland’s bogs are now the scene of an intense restoration effort in which millions of exotic trees are being felled to fight climate change.
The mountain chicken used to fill the valleys of Montserrat and Dominica with its distinctive call. Now, the critically endangered frog is rarely heard on the islands. Photograph by Geoffrey Giller Song of the Mountain Chicken 10.30.2019 Article - These giant frogs—once a delicacy on two Caribbean islands—were almost wiped out by disease and natural disasters. But their resilience and years of dedicated conservation efforts have kept hope for the species alive.
The Secret Garden - A small school of piraputanga gather near the surface of a river in the Bodoquena region of Brazil. The Secret Garden 09.11.2019 Photo Essay - The crystalline rivers of the Serra da Bodoquena offer a window into Brazil’s freshwater biodiversity. But with deforestation on the rise, that window is becoming cloudier.
Captured on July 5, 2018, this was the first photograph to document pollination of a ghost orchid bloom. Contrary to the expectations of many experts, who believed that the giant sphinx moth was likely the only pollinator of the ghost orchid, this moth is a fig sphinx. The yellow bundle on its head is a ghost orchid pollinium (pollen cluster). Photograph by Carlton Ward Jr. Ghosts of the Everglades 07.11.2019 Immersive - Clinging to survival in shrinking swamps, ghost orchids are so elusive that their pollinators have remained unknown—until now. One team’s findings may help to save both the flower and its threatened home.
Hundreds of Chinook salmon fry swim in a tank at the Bodega Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Davis. Raised in Rice Fields 06.26.2019 Article - California’s Chinook salmon have been losing habitat to agriculture for decades. Now, they’re getting a much-needed boost from strategically flooded fields.
<strong>Taking Center Stage by Audun Rikardsen</strong><em>—Grand Prize Winner</em> <p>While the beauty of Norway’s spectacular northern coastline might be lost on this male black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), the prime vantage point offered by its perch is certainly not. For a ground-dwelling bird known for exuberant territorial displays during the breeding season, what better place to see and be seen than this branch, which provides an eagle’s-eye perspective of the terrain below. What initially drew photographer Audun Rikardsen to this spot high above the sea was, in fact, a resident golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) that frequented the perch. Having constructed a blind nearby, Rikardsen spent many frigid winter days photographing the eagle. But by spring, it had been replaced by a new subject: a black grouse in proud display. Not only did the grouse quickly become accustomed to Rikardsen’s rapidly firing camera shutter and flash, he says, it was almost as if the bird enjoyed being in the spotlight.</p> The Big Picture 2019 04.30.2019 Photo Gallery - From the beautiful to the bizarre, this photographic showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet's most amazing species and places.
Lionfish feeding on SIlversides Pterois Volitans Red Sea, Egypt The Wreckers 12.12.2018 Spotlight - The lionfish that haunt one of the world’s most famous shipwrecks are now laying claim to new battlegrounds.
The Big Picture 2018 05.01.2018 Photo Gallery - From the beautiful to the bizarre, this photographic showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet's most amazing species and places.
Imapla being attacked by a Nile crocodile during drought of Kruger National Park, South Africa High Drama 04.19.2018 Spotlight - Sometimes the best way out of a sticky situation is up, up and away.
A Grand Experiment on the Grasslands 03.13.2018 Immersive - A decades-long debate over protection of the lesser prairie-chicken could usher the Endangered Species Act into a new and very different era.
indri (Indri indri) A Helping Hand 02.28.2018 Spotlight - Specialized though it may be, Madagascar’s largest living lemur may need an extra hand to survive in a rapidly changing world.
Quiver trees (Aloidendron dichotomum) Quiver Kingdom 01.23.2018 Spotlight - Quiver trees thrive in arid conditions, but as climate change makes the Namib Desert hotter and drier, can these immobile icons find a way to beat the heat?
With its iridescent turquoise markings and four pairs of eyes, this jumping spider (Thania bhamoensis) is well-equipped to recognize and assess members of its own species. The spider’s large central eyes are responsible for acute vision and allow it to differentiate between potential mates and rivals. (Among other differences, females tend to be greener, while males are bluer.) Meanwhile, the spider’s three smaller pairs of eyes can detect movement on all sides, which comes in handy both when fighting off rivals and being on the lookout for potential prey. The Rainforest Next Door 12.05.2017 Photo Gallery - Just minutes from a major metropolis, Malaysia’s Penang Hill rainforest boasts some of the richest backyard biodiversity on the planet.
African elephants (Loxodonta africana) Are You My Allomother? 10.19.2017 Spotlight - A newborn elephant's aunts, sisters, and cousins all lend a helping trunk to support the newest member of their clan.
Bacteria (Lepthotryx discophora) causing iridescent patterns and White willow tree leaf (Salix alba) in river, Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, southern Spain, November. A Colorful Cleanup 08.08.2017 Spotlight - Living off the energy they extract from heavy metals, these bacteria create spectacular natural displays—and leave clean drinking water in their wake.
Dwarf puff adder / Peringueys Sidewinding Adder (Bitis peringueyi) moving over the loose sand in typical mode of locomotion, Namib desert, Namibia Making Tracks 08.01.2017 Spotlight - For some snakes, taking the path of least resistance requires getting off the ground.
Wheatear, (Oenanthe oenanthe) perched on gritstone rock amongst flowering heather (Ericaceae sp), Peak District NP, August 2011. 2020. World Traveler 05.31.2017 Spotlight - This tiny songbird treks cross-hemisphere over deserts, oceans, and mountain ranges in one of the animal kingdom’s most impressive migrations.
Giant Titicaca Lake frog {Telmatobius culeus} Lake Titicaca. Bolivia / Peru Troubled Waters 05.16.2017 Spotlight - The world’s largest aquatic frog may soon vanish from its namesake home high in the Andes.
Common frog (Rana temporaria) sitting on snow in the breeding season in the Alps, France, June.. The Ice Frog Cometh 04.04.2017 Spotlight - Living at the extreme edge of its range, an alpine frog begins its breeding season with a march across a rather forbidding landscape.
dunes Invisible Nature: Star of the Dunes 04.04.2017 Video - Coastal dunes set the stage for a surprisingly valuable partnership between a fungus and a tree.
Chilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) in flight over mountain peaks with glacier in the distance, Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile. Winner of Landscape category, Nature's Best / Windland Smith Rice Awards competition 2010 High Fliers 03.28.2017 Spotlight - Lancing their granite backdrop with a streak of pink, Chilean flamingos soar over Torres del Paine National Park.
Portrait of a Nudibranch (Flabellina pellucida) on a kelp frond with star trails. Gulen, Norway. North East Atlantic Ocean. Star Attraction 01.24.2017 Spotlight - Even a night sky of pirouetting stars can’t upstage the otherworldly beauty of a red-gilled nudibranch.
Demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo) winter migratory bird, fisheye perspective of feeding cranes. Khichan, Western Rajasthan, India. February 2015 Bird’s-eye View 12.27.2016 Spotlight - What began as the seasonal arrival of just a few dozen cranes has become one of India’s most renowned wildlife spectacles.
bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) Blood, White, and Blue 11.08.2016 Spotlight - Weary, bloodstained, and ultimately victorious, one bird symbolizes the plight, fight, and recovery of our nation’s most iconic species.
Borneo Orangutan - Pongo pygmaeus - female with baby on a tree looking up - holding leaves over their heads "roof" to protect themselves from rain - Camp Leakey - Tanjung Puting National Park - Kalimantan - Borneo - Indonesia A Life Aloft 08.09.2016 Spotlight - Orangutans weather the storm against an onslaught of threats to their canopy home.
bats Lens of Time: Bat Ballet 08.02.2016 Video - Hundreds of thousands of bats emerge from a hole in the ground, and scientists with high-speed video cameras are there to make sense of the overwhelming spectacle.
lemon shark pup (Negaprion brevirostris) Shark Haven 08.02.2016 Spotlight - A lemon shark cruises through the submerged branches of a mangrove forest, oblivious to the many threats this critical habitat faces.
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) at night with the milky way in the background, Gyulaj, Tolna, Hungary. August. Taken using long exposure with flash at night. Winner of the Mammals Category of the GDT Awards 2015. Overall winner of the MontPhoto Competition 2015. Foraging by Starlight 07.12.2016 Spotlight - It's no accident that the opportunistic wild boar has become one of the most widely distributed mammals on the planet.
Black Rhino, Etosha National Park, Namibia - 2015 Arid Apparition 07.05.2016 Spotlight - Once driven to near extinction by trophy hunting, the black rhino’s slow recovery is now encountering a new threat.
coral Lens of Time: Corals in Motion 06.18.2016 Video - Corals occupy their own time dimension, but if given enough time, they reveal a surprising array of behaviors that give them an edge deep below the ocean's surface.
Rose-ringed / ring-necked parakeets (Psittacula krameri) in flight on their way to roost in an urban cemetery. London, UK. January Feral Spirits 06.07.2016 Spotlight - These beautiful invasives most likely escaped from pet owners, but now they’re firmly established across the English countryside.
Male Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) displaying on a snow covered lek. Sublette County, Wyoming. March. Wyoming’s Bird of Paradise 05.31.2016 Spotlight - As if in defiance to the many threats they face, sage-grouse perform one the West's most impressive mating rituals.
Eurasian beavers Mealtime Swim 05.24.2016 Spotlight - Back from the brink, Eurasian beavers are once again an integral part of the river ecosystem in France's Loire Valley.
eider ducks (Somateria mollissima) Ducking and Diving 05.17.2016 Spotlight - An eider duck seeks shelter and sustenance in the the icy waters along the central Norwegian coast.
Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) slung from Super Huey Bell helicopter Great Fish River Nature Reserve, Eastern Cape Province SOUTH AFRICA A viable breeding population of 15 animals being relocated to an undisclosed destination. ENDANGERED SPECIES. CITES 1 Rhino Relocation 05.10.2016 Spotlight - To protect rhinos from poachers, conservation workers have taken to the air to move these massive animals quickly and efficiently to safer ground.
Brazilian Pantanal Night of the Caiman 05.03.2016 Spotlight - Once threatened by over-hunting, yacare caimans now number in the millions across Brazil’s Pantanal region.
Young Baikal seal (Pusa sibirica) at breathing hole. Lake Baikal, Russia, April. Ice Seal 04.26.2016 Spotlight - Meet Lake Baikal’s most famous resident, the world’s only freshwater-specific seal.
Biologist Bart Shepherd in An Audacious Plan in the Twilight An Audacious Plan in the Twilight 04.26.2016 Article - A team of deep-reef explorers attempts to document the unknown biodiversity of Vanuatu’s twilight zone.

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