Images and videos by National Geographic

Video by @joelsartore | Male vermilion cardinals like this one photographed at @aviarionacional are the most radiant of all three cardinal species. Along with their brilliant red plumage, they sport a tall crown of feathers on the tops of their heads. This species of cardinal is found along the Caribbean coasts of Venezuela and Colombia and can usually be seen singing from their perches early in the morning.
To see a portrait of this handsome bird, check out @joelsartore.
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#birds #cardinals #red #vermillion #wildlife #nature #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #animalfacts #natgeo #photoark #SaveTogether

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Photo by @edkashi Sneak peak of the work I’ll be exhibiting in #Perpignan, #France for the @visapourlimage festival this week. Antonio Arsenio Rivera pauses to reflect on the beach with his family at Puerto Corinto beach near Chichigalpa, #Nicaragua. Both Rivera and his son Walter suffer from #ChronicKidneyDisease. #visapourlimage #visapourlimage2017 #photojournalism #documentary #reportage #edkashi #viiphoto #CKD #CKDu #CKDnT

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Photo by @TomasVH from #Pyongyang, North Korea. A museum docent stands in front of a war diorama depicting a battle between North Korean troops and the U.S. military during the 1950 to 1953 Korean War. Scholars estimate 1.2 million people died during the conflict. You can follow @tomasvh for more archival images from #NorthKorea.

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Photo by @mattiasklumofficial
Two elephants quenching their thirst near Abu Camp, Botswana. Here they are relatively safe but more than 100 000 elephants have been killed in Africa the last 3 years! In fact every 15 minutes an elephant is killed for its tusks and most countries in Africa don’t have adequate capacity to protect their herds.
Please go to @mattiasklumofficial to meet a dethroned lion king. China has announced a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017. Let’s hope it’s a game-changer for the future of elephants. China has the biggest ivory market in the world – some estimates suggest 70% of the world’s trade ends up there! Help save the elephants by supporting conservation organizations! #elephants #africa #botswana #conservation #protectbiodiversity #stoppoaching #mattiasklum @natgeo @alexandrovklumofficial @thephotosociety

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Photo by @dguttenfelder.
A North Korean man crosses a bridge at the end of the day in Pyongyang, North Korea. For more photos and videos from inside North Korea please follow @dguttenfelder who traveled on assignment for @NatGeo to North Korea this past week with the last group of U.S. tourists to visit before the start of the Sept. 1st U.S. travel ban.

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At Pyongyang, Korea

Photo by @FransLanting A black-throated mango hovers in mid flight. These tiny jewels from the Americas are the only birds that can rotate their wings in a circle and fly right, left, up, down, backwards, and even upside down. They hover by flapping their wings in a figure-eight pattern and their wingbeats are so rapid—80 times per second—that they make a humming sound when they fly. That’s why they’re hummingbirds! Hummers have the largest brain, heart, and breast muscles in proportion to their body size of any bird. Follow me @FransLantiong for more wonders of nature.
@natgeotravel @natgeocreative @thephotosociety #Hummingbird #NationalHummingbirdDay #Argentina #Jewel #Birdphotography #wonder #Bird

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Photo by @BrianSkerry.
A whale shark glides among a school of fish in the turquoise waters off the coast of Mexico. Whale sharks are currently listed as ‘vulnerable’ due to human pollution and hunting, and populations remain unstable due to the slow reproductive habits of these magnificent creatures. These creatures are the largest fish in the sea, weighing over 20 tons and reaching lengths of over 40 feet long.

To see more underwater photography, be sure to follow me on Instagram, @BrianSkerry.
@thephotosociety @natgeocreative

#whale #shark #vulnerable #conservation #fish #surprise #prey #food #mexico #photooftheday #conservation #cute #animals #preservation #natgeo #photography #underwaterphotography #underwaterphoto #follow #wanderlust

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At Mexico

Video by @paulnicklen with @Kyle.roepke // Bowhead whales travel along the coast of Baffin Island, Nunavut. As the oldest living mammals on Earth, we can only guess what these whales have witnessed during the past two hundred years as they could easily be that old. #followme on @paulnicklen to see these massive whales underwater. #Turningthetide with @sea_legacy. @natgeo @natgeopristineseas #beauty #whale #nature #naturelovers

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Photo @lucalocatelliphoto This is a modern farmer house in the Westland, in the Netherlands.
What might the future of sustainable farming look like ? How we can combine massive production of food and health to front the hunger crisis in the next decades ?
Those are the questions that brought me for @natgeo to the Netherlands to document the agro farming technology of this small country that has become an agricultural giant and it propose the most advanced high tech solutions to grow more with less.
This tiny country feed the world is online and it appears on the September issue of National Geographic Magazine.
Follow me @lucalocatelliphoto, I’ll keep posting images from this project. #agriculture #hunger #food #foodcrisis #modernfarmer #farmer #greenhouse #organic #lettuce #netherlands #technology #future #futuristic #landscape #drone #dronefly

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Image by @joelsartore | This endangered pollinator has a tongue as long as its body, and uses it to feed on cacti, agave, and other nectar-laden plants in the American Southwest and Mexico. The lesser long-nosed fruit bat has a special relationship with its environment, as it must migrate to stay within areas that contain the blooming plants that provide its nutrition. These areas are usually in longitudinal lines called “nectar corridors”, and the lesser long-nosed bat will travel more than any other bat in order to secure its meals. Unlike other bats that primarily feed on readily available insects in a smaller area, the lesser long-nosed bat has a large foraging area and thus contributes to the spread of genetic diversity of many species of desert plants, including the protected saguaro cactus of the Sonoran Desert. The greatest threat to the lesser long-nosed bat is the conversion of wild land to ranches, agricultural, and urban development. Because it is a nectarivore that travels in accordance with the blooming of desert plants, a great understanding of this bat’s migration patterns in necessary in order for conservation efforts to be truly effective.
Follow @joelsartore for more incredible species.
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#bat #bats #cute #cuteanimals #adorable #pollinators #pollinatorhero #wildlife #nature #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #animalfacts #natgeo #photoark #SaveTogether

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Photo by Jodi Cobb @jodicobbphoto || As Americans celebrate the Labor Day holiday, please spare a thought for the 150 million children (UNICEF estimate) engaged in child labor worldwide. Paneer, shown here spinning thread for silk looms in India, sits all day and spins. At the end of each spindle, he bites the end of the thread to cut it. He doesn’t know he’s being slowly poisoned by the dye. An estimated 33 million children are working in India, one of the highest concentrations of child workers in the world.
#childlabor #laborday
@thephotosociety

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Photo by @christian_foto ( Christian Rodriguez )
A woman walks in rural Arusha, Tanzania.
This region is dedicated to the cultivation of coffee and corn.
Coffee production in Tanzania is a significant aspect of its economy, and serves as its largest export crop. Tanzanian coffee production averages between 30,000-40,000 metric tons each year, of which approximately 70% is Arabica and 30% is Robusta.
Two new species were recently found in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains, Coffea bridsoniae and C. kihansiensis.
Ninety percent of the nation’s coffee farms are smallholder; the remainder are plantations. There are approximately 270,000 workers in the coffee industry. Photo by @christian_foto #tedglobal #arusha #tanzania

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Photograph by @paulnicklen // A bowhead whale thrashes its 20 foot wide tail against the oceans surface creating a thunderous boom both above and below the water. Bowheads are the oldest living mammals on Earth. The older they get the more white their tails become. This very old whale could easily have been over 200 years old. They are also very susceptible to ocean noise. As sea ice coverage reaches an all time low, there is much interest in seismic testing for oil near their migratory routes and summering grounds. I have seen small motor boats displace over 50 whales out of a bay. What would the deafening sonic booms from oil exploration companies do to these whales? #followme on @paulnicklen and @sea_legacy to see these great whales underwater. #gratitude #whale #mpa #turningthetide

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Photo by @dguttenfelder.
In Pyongyang, North Korea, a painted grid mark the spots for marching during mass parades on Kim Il Sung Square. For more photos and videos from inside North Korea please follow @dguttenfelder who traveled on assignment for NatGeo to North Korea this past week with the last group of U.S. tourists before the start of the Sept. 1st U.S. travel ban.

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At Kim Il-sung Square

Photograph by @thomaspeschak Marine biologist @octavioaburto explores the shallows around Isla Candelabra in Mexico’s Gulf of California as giant Cardon cacti loom on the ridges above. He has worked tirelessly for almost two decades to help protect Mexico’s ocean realm. Shot on assignment for @natgeo magazine for the Sep 2017 story Ocean Stewards.

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At Isla del Espiritu Santo, Baja California Sur.

Video @ladzinski / Navigating through #glaciers is a delicate business, generally avoided if you can. @mikelibecki & @ethan_pringle seen here methodically moving through a maze of icy blue crevasses. The open blue sections of the dry glacier aren’t so much the issue, it’s the snow covered areas where all the question marks are. #slowandsteady @andy_mann @connor_seybert

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At Greenland

Photo by @daviddoubilet. A silky shark glides beneath a troubled sky in Gardens of the Queen National Park Cuba. This marine sanctuary is a corner of the Caribbean lost in time that looks much like it did when Columbus landed here and named it for his Queen. Located fifty miles off the southern coast of Cuba, the isolation combined with vigilant protection has contributed to the conservation of this ecosystem of mangroves, islets and teeming coral reefs. // photographed for @natgeo Cuba’s Underwater Jewels in Tourisms Path // with @natgeocreative @thephotosociety // #ocean #conservation #cuba # gardensofthequeen #shark #sunset for #moreocean follow @daviddoubilet

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Video by @christian_foto ( Christian Rodríguez ) on assignment for @natgeo in the Bolivian Amazon. Our expedition early morning with park rangers from Madidi National Park. They carry out surveillance against illegal jaguar poachers. Madidi National Park has the protected area with the world’s largest biodiversity.

Video by @christian_foto on assignment for @natgeo #jaguar #madidinationalpark #Bolivia

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At Madidi National Park

Photo by @CristinaMittermeier // Like a crumbling wedding cake, slowly melting on its way out to sea, an iceberg travels along the northern shore of Baffin Island. Millions of tons of ice are calved every year by the many glaciers that fringe the coast of the Canadian Arctic, making this landscape endlessly fascinating and beautiful. As long as there is ice, there is hope. Let’s continue working to change our carbon future so that ice remains a feature of this majestic landscape.

To see more image from the newly-protected Lancaster Sound Marine Conservation Area, which will be featured in an upcoming article on @NatGeo Magazine, visit my #instagram feed on @CristinaMittermeier

#TurningtheTide with @NatGeo, @NatGeoPristineSeas and @SeaLegacy.

@NatGeoCreative | #beauty | #polar | #nature | #photography | #canada| #nature | #mexican

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At Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut

Photo by @dguttenfelder.
North Koreans on a country road near the town of Kaesong, North Korea. For more photos and videos from inside North Korea please follow @natgeo‘s Instagram story where you can swipe to our online story about the last US tourists to visit North Korea before a newly called travel ban. Photos by @dguttenfelder who traveled to North Korea this past week.

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At Kaesong

Photo @ladzinski / Sled dogs, enjoying some down time in the summer heat in #Tasiilaq #Greenland. As cute as these dogs are, being a sled dog is a demanding life and one that goes back thousands of years. Many cultures throughout the northern hemisphere still use sled dogs today, in nearly the same capacity as they did millenniums ago; as harnessed transportation, hunting companions, patrols, rescue and even mail delivery in the winter season. Swipe left to see the full carousel.

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At Tasiilaq

Photo @lucalocatelliphoto for @natgeo. At Welzow-Süd open pit mine in Germany, some of the world’s largest machines claw 22 million tons of coal a year from a 45-foot-thick seam. Burning coal emits large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Coal is composed almost entirely of carbon, so burning coal unleashes large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. These emissions have been shown to increase the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere and lead to global warming. Coal is considered in many countries the most reliable source to produce energy. #Follow me @lucalocatelliphoto to see more about #climatechange #globalwarming #solution #environment #co2 #energytransition #energy #sustainableenergy #change #workforngm #planet #earth #pollution #future

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photo by @chamiltonjames / Charlie Hamilton James – today is International Vulture Awareness Day. Vultures are not pretty (in the conventional sense of the term) and you might not think they need to be highlighted but they do. Vultures in Africa and Asia have experienced catastrophic declines over the last twenty years. In India and around Asia some species have declined by up to 99% due to the use of a drug called Diclofenac – a drug used to cure some ailments in cows. In Africa a mixture of poisoning both direct and indirect combined with habitat loss and loss of food has contributed to their current steep decline. Vultures are hugely important to eco-systems – they consume more meat on the plains of Africa than all the other predators and scavengers combined. Without them playing such an important role other scavengers such as jackals, feral dogs and hyenas will proliferate and with that will come an increase in rabies – as has been seen already in India with increased incidence of human rabies. So love them or hate them humans need them.

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Photograph by @thomaspeschak A school of Clarion angelfish removes parasites, dead skin and mucous from a oceanic manta ray. This species of “Cleaner fish” is endemic to the #Revillagigedo archipelago marine protected area, 240 miles south of Baja California. A critical initiative to expand this marine reserve, to further benefit large marine species like manta rays that roam vast distances is currently underway. Shot on assignment for @NatGeo magazine for the September 2017 story Ocean Stewards focused on marine conservation successes. Please #follow @mantatrust and @maresmexicanos to learn more about the conservation of manta rays in Mexico’s western seas. #mexico #baja #manta #diving #conservation

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At Socorro Island

Photograph by @simonnorfolkstudio on assignment for an upcoming story for @natgeo … The Via Dolorosa (Latin: “Way of Grief / Sorrow / Suffering”, or simply “Painful Way”; Hebrew: ויה דולורוזה; Arabic: طريق الآلام) is a street within the Old City of Jerusalem, believed to be the path that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion. The winding route from the Antonia Fortress west to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — a distance of about 600 metres (2,000 feet) — is a celebrated place of Christian pilgrimage. The current route has been established since the 18th century, replacing various earlier versions. It is today marked by nine Stations of the Cross; there have been fourteen stations since the late 15th century, with the remaining five stations being inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Follow @simonnorfolkstudio for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material.

@natgeo @simonnorfolkstudio

#photojournalism #documentaryphotography #simonnorfolk #jerusalem
#archaeology #Jesus #religion #faith #holyland #christianity #simonnorfolkstudio #igtravel #visualarchitects #streetphotography #street #pilgrimage #stationsofthecross #stairway #bible #thebible #theholybible @simonnorfolkstudio

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By @edkashi This #sugarcane worker who has worked in the fields of Chichigalpa, #Nicaragua for 25 years suffers from #ChronicKidneyDisease. I’ll be sharing this work @visapourlimage in #Perpignan, #France this week. #visapourlimage #visapourlimage2017 #photojournalism #documentary #reportage #edkashi #CKD #CKDu #CKDnT

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Photo by @michaelmelford – First one of the cubs came to the edge of the ice to view our ship, then the other and finally the mother. The best gift I received in the high Arctic this year. The takeaway after 10 years of coming north is that the ice is getting thinner and everyone and everything has to adapt. Not sure if or when I will return, but my heart goes out to the people and animals of the north. #arctic #polarbear #ice #climatechange #photography @natgeoexpeditions

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Photo by @argonautphoto (Aaron Huey). A man dances around the burning remains of “the Man” (a massive wooden effigy) at @burningman in #BlackRockCity, Nevada. When the Man falls each year the crowd rushes to the embers to dance, roast marshmallows, pray, and sing. The scene around the fire is very much like a religious fever, with the energy so high that it swirls the crowd into a huge communal circumambulation. The burning of the Man is a blank slate that anyone can project meaning onto. It could be a place to burn your fears, celebrate your life, or pay homage to the power and energy of fire itself. Each person around the fire brings their own life story and trajectory, coming together for a moment in the light and heat of this amazing spectacle. The man burns tomorrow! #burningman

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At Black Rock Desert

Photo by @dguttenfelder.
A North Korean traffic policeman stands on his designated spot at an intersection in Kaesong, North Korea as a bus of tourists passes by this week. The Trump Administration’s ban on U.S. passport holder’s travel to North Korea begins today Sept. 1. For more photos and videos from inside North Korea please follow @natgeo‘s Instagram story where you can swipe to our online story about the travel ban. Photos by @dguttenfelder who joined the last group of tourists from the USA inside North Korea this week.

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At Kaesong

Video by @renan_ozturk // One of my favorite places on the planet, the iconic 4000 ft tall faces of The Howser Towers of the Canada’s Bugaboos Spires. Huge congrats to @willstanhope @leo_houlding for having just completed a massive link up, free climbing all three of the main towers in a single 23.5hr push. That’s 2000 meters of climbing up to the difficult grade of 5.12+ done in 58 rope lengths. Numbers and superlatives aside, this type of exploration is an expression of a lifetime committed to learning how to move efficiently and skillfully in mountains. Very proud to see this evolution of physicality and creativity going strong in the climbing tribe. #inspiration #bugaboos #howsertowers

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At The Bugaboos

Photo by @michaelchristopherbrown. At dawn deer pass through a meadow at Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. This summer I drove nearly 6,000 miles of the American West, passing through over a dozen Indian reservations and sacred sites like the Tower. According to Indigenous tribal folklore of the Kiowa and Lakota, a group of girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears, who began to chase them. In an effort to escape the bears, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. Hearing their prayers, the Great Spirit made the rock rise from the ground towards the heavens so that the bears could not reach the girls. The bears, in an effort to climb the rock, left deep claw marks in the sides (the marks which appear today on the sides of the Tower), which had become too steep to climb. When the girls reached the sky, they were turned into the stars of the Pleiades (Wikipedia). Follow me at @michaelchristopherbrown for more photographs from this trip.

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At Devils Tower, Wyoming

Photo by @dguttenfelder.
A North Korean woman looks out across Pyongyang from the top of Juche Tower. The Trump Administration’s ban on U.S. passport holder’s travel to North Korea begins today Sept. 1. For more photos and videos from inside North Korea please follow @natgeo‘s Instagram story where you can swipe to our online story about the travel ban. Photos by @dguttenfelder from inside North Korea.

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At Pyongyang, Korea

Photograph by @thomaspeschak What would you do if a 40 ton gray whale suddenly lifts its massive head out of the water just feet from your small boat? Between January and March in San Ignacio lagoon Mexico curious whales are so abundant that you would have to try hard not to have encounters like this. Nothing fosters ocean stewardship better than positive personal encounters with marine wildlife. To not want to do your part for marine conservation after coming face to face with these giants, you would have to be heartless or dead…or both. Shot on assignment for @natgeo magazine Tell me about your most memorable whale encounter below in the comments.

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At San Ignacio Lagoon