Nature Photography

A rainbow can be spotted in the mists of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than with an exploration of the planet's most colorful places?

Celebrate Earth Day With a Rainbow of Spectacular Photos

Nature's palette is unparalleled

The green color of the superb startling’s wing feathers is produced by microscopically structured surfaces that interfere with and scatter light.

The Extravagant Beauty of Feathers

A new book spotlights the astonishing diversity of avian plumage

Perhaps Magnolia rzedowskiana should be renamed Magnolia interneta.

Two New Flower Species Were Discovered Online

These naturalists didn’t know one another—but that didn’t keep them from discovering two new magnolias together

Paul Johnson explores "landthropology" through his nature photography.

This Designer Makes Animations With Nature

Paul Johnson turns Twin Cities landscapes into hypnotic stop-motion

Watch a Stunning Time-Lapse of Cave-Bound Glowworms

These New Zealand sparklers aren’t stars—they’re insects

Otherworldly Photos From Inside One of the World's Largest River Caves

Studded with cave pearls and home to elusive giant spiders, this cave is one of Laos' hidden treasures

During the first two years of the team's studies, snow sealed the entrance to Snow Dragon cave. But in recent years, low snowpack has kept the entrance open year-round.

Behold the Beauty of Disappearing Glacier Ice Caves on Mt. Hood

Catch them before they're gone -- these tunnels and caverns may soon melt away

Category winner, Behavior: A school of tropical clupeid fish swim in sync, keeping a healthy distance from a teenage black-tip reef shark in the Rasdhoo Atoll, Republic of Maldives. Though the sharks cruise placidly for hours without so much as a glance at the fish, they strike suddenly, gobbling up a mouthful of fish.

A Tadpole’s Perspective and More "Life Through a Lens" Images

Ogle the images from winners of the Royal Society's photography contest

2015 Grand Prize Winner Atlantic Puffin with Wild Iris, by Megan Lorenz, Elliston, Newfoundland, Canada. "Perched precariously on the edge of a cliff trying desperately to overcome my fear of heights,' says Megan Lorenz, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, "I watched this Atlantic Puffin pull a Wild Iris from the ground and walk along the cliff toward me. He stopped for a moment and I had enough time to capture him with the blue sky in the background before he dropped the Iris over the side where his mate was waiting at the burrow entrance."

A Taste of "The Best of the Best" Nature Photography

Take a trip around the world with these breathtaking images of nature

Pepper, the southern boobook. The southern boobook is Australia’s smallest and most common owl. It gets its name from the sound of its hoot.

Bird Watching Has Never Been More Fun

These photos by portraitist Leila Jeffreys are for the birds

PETA Wants a Selfie-Snapping Monkey to be Granted Copyright to its Photo

PETA Wants a Selfie-Snapping Monkey to be Granted Copyright to its Photo

Why Do Hundreds of Macaws Gather at These Peruvian Clay Banks?

Brightly colored parrots of the western Amazon basin display a behavior not seen anywhere else

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia (top) and Chickamauga, Georgia (bottom) were the sites of two Civil War battles.

A Photographic Requiem for America's Civil War Battlefields

Walking far-flung battlefields to picture the nation's defining tragedy in a modern light

This image, Elephants at Twilight, Botswana, 1989, writes Lanting, "is my homage to the primeval qualities of southern Africa's wilderness, the grandeur of elephants, and the precious nature of water in a land of thirst."

Wildlife Photographer Frans Lanting on the Difference Between Taking Pictures and Making Photographs

The <I>National Geographic</i> photographer has been described as having the "mind of a scientist, the heart of a hunter, and the eyes of a poet"

Cavers stand amongst large gour pool walls and unique raft cone formations inside Hang Va.

These Breathtaking Photos of Vietnam’s Caves Bring Out the Armchair Spelunker in Everyone

Photographer Ryan Deboodt discovers beauty in this subterranean realm

Dragonfly wings have a complex, rigid surface that is maintained by a network of veins. The subtle colors of this immature Black Meadowhawk are caused by sunlight reflecting off the not-quite transparent wings.

These Dragonflies Helped an Astronomer Find Ghostly New Galaxies

A Yale scientist set out to capture the insect's full lifecycle and ended up discovering hidden wonders of the cosmos

The Shape of Things to Come, Antarctic Sound, February 2010: "As we sailed with the land to our backs, I saw this bright, jagged iceberg with a dark-blue sea," writes Seaman.

These Photos Capture a Decade of Change at Earth's Poles

From courting penguins to moody icebergs, photojournalist Camille Seaman shares her personal journey through polar habitats

Google's newest Street View collection takes users to Gombe Stream National Park, where Jane Goodall pioneered her chimpanzee behavioral research. "Don't forget to look up," a Google project manager says.

Exclusive: The Chimpanzees of Gombe National Park Make Their Street View Debut

For its latest collection, Google traveled to the African rainforest where Jane Goodall pioneered her groundbreaking chimp research

A shop sells nostalgic souvenirs, including a UK coat of arms, at the Portobello Road market in London.

Ten Unusual National Animals That Rival the Unicorn

Scotland doesn’t have the market cornered on exotic national symbols—check out the mouflon, the takin and the xoloitzcuintli

A genet riding a rhino.

A Fuzzy Little Genet Is Hitching Rides on Rhinos and Buffalo, And No One Can Figure Out Why

Camera traps exposed the secret world of a rhino-riding genet

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