20080317
March 17, 2008
Sea Star, Ireland, 2005
Photograph by Brian Skerry
There are some 2,000 species of sea stars, such as this striped invertebrate off Ireland's Atlantic coast, living in all the world's oceans. Sea stars are famous for their ability to regenerate limbs, and in some cases, entire bodies. They accomplish this by housing most or all of their vital organs in their arms.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Beneath Irish Isles," March 2005, National Geographic magazine)

20080318
March 18, 2008
Dominica, 1996
Photograph by Michael Melford
A rainbow arcs over trees blooming on a hillside in the West Indies island of Dominica. The country's interior can receive some 300 inches (760 centimeters) of rain each year, yielding hundreds of square miles of mountainous, densely forested wilderness, much of it protected as state land. The country's volcanic activity also yields natural gems, such as boiling pools, geysers, and black-sand beaches.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Dominica," November/December 1996, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

20080319
March 19, 2008
Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, 1995
Photograph by Joel Sartore
Silhouetted against the sun, sandhill cranes glide over the wetlands of Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. Every winter groups of sandhills migrate from Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho to the warmer climes of Bosque del Apache. Naturalists are concerned that diminishing wetlands are leading the water birds to overpopulate this refuge.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Dead or Alive: The Endangered Species Act," March 1995, National Geographic magazine)

20080320
March 20, 2008
Garden of Gods, Lanai Island, Hawaii, 1997
Photograph by Jim Richardson
Thousands of years of erosion left this lunar-like landscape of boulders strewn across a canyon on Hawaii's Lanai Island, known as the Garden of the Gods. According to island legend, gods tending their earthly garden dropped the rocks from the sky. Visitors to the area have constructed rock cairns, a tradition many islanders disapprove of.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Hiding Away in Lanai," January/February 1997, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

20080321
March 21, 2008
Tomb of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt, 1995
Photograph by Kenneth Garrett
A wall relief from the fifth-century Tomb of Ti in Saqqara, Egypt, depicts kneeling scribes counting grains of wheat, and, above them, bakers mixing vessels of dough. Hieroglyphs, or picture symbols, were probably developed to add detailed information, such as time, place, and identity, to existing pictorial representations.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Age of Pyramids: Egypt's Old Kingdom," January 1995, National Geographic magazine)

20080322
March 22, 2008
Boat Hull, Arctic Circle, 2002
Photograph by Peter Essick
The glassy surface of a boreal forest lake in the Arctic Circle reflects the bright red hull of a boat. The boreal, or northern, forest, is the great globe-circling ecosystem of the north that lies in Russia, Canada, Alaska, and Scandinavia. Its soils are thin, growing seasons are brief, and its plants, animals, and people must withstand intense weather.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Great Northern Forest," June 2002, National Geographic magazine)

20080323
March 23, 2008
Cloud-Shrouded Skyline, Chicago, 1978
Photograph by Steve Raymer
A blanket of clouds shrouds the Chicago skyline in the metropolis that poet Carl Sandburg dubbed "the city of the big shoulders."
The "stormy, husky, brawling" Chicago of Sandburg doubled and tripled in population after 1850. It saw the first skyscraper rise in 1885 and the tallest in 1974. Once known for its meatpacking industry, the city today runs on finance, shipping, and iron and steelworks.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Chicago!" April 1978, National Geographic magazine)

20080324
March 24, 2008
Clown Triggerfish, Tukangbesi Islands, Indonesia, 2005
Photograph by Tim Laman
Found in coral-rich seaweed reefs in the Pacific Ocean, clown triggerfish, such as this patterned juvenile in Indonesia's Tukangbesi Islands, are master predators. The fish blow streams of water at the sand to expose hiding prey, then use their powerful jaws and rows of sharp teeth to crush through hard-shelled reef creatures such as sea urchins, clams, snails, and crabs.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish: Why Are Coral Reefs So Colorful?" May 2005, National Geographic magazine)

20080325
March 25, 2008
Crop Dusting, Brawley, California, 2005
Photograph by Gerd Ludwig
A setting sun casts a fiery glow over a crop duster spreading pesticides in a Brawley, California, field. In addition to controlling insects, bacterial diseases, and weeds, crop dusting can be used to apply fertilizers, delay fruit ripening, increase or decrease the number of fruit a plant produces, and defoliate plants to facilitate harvest. Biologists and farmers continue to weigh its costs and benefits.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Salton Sea," February 2005, National Geographic magazine)

20080326
March 26, 2008
Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey, 1998
Photograph by Steve McCurry
Rendered blue in this photograph by reflected light from the sky above and the Bosporus Strait below, Istanbul's Blue Mosque actually got its name from the tile covering its interior. Built for Sultan Ahmet I in the early 1600s, the Ottoman mosque was the first, aside from Mecca's Kaaba shrine, with six minarets instead of the usual four.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "City at the Crossroads," March/April 1998, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

20080327
March 27, 2008
Sea Star and Mollusk, Satonda Island, 2005
Photograph by Tim Laman
Many mollusks, like this ridged specimen resting atop a blue sea star (starfish) near Indonesia's Satonda Island, are commensal creatures, meaning they benefit from living on or near a host organism, while leaving the host largely unaffected. However, mollusks are also a favorite prey of sea stars, which use their suction-cupped tube feet to pry open clams, mollusks, and oysters before consuming their innards.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish: Why Are Coral Reefs So Colorful?" May 2005, National Geographic magazine)

20080328
March 28, 2008
Sunset, Florida Keys, 1999
Photograph by Jim Richardson
Dramatic storm clouds move across Florida Bay at sunset as a woman on Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon, Florida, looks on. Built by millionaire property developer Henry Flagler to take his trains to Key West, the bridge is now closed to traffic and is used for morning jogs, daytime fishing trips, and evening strolls by the residents of Marathon.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "South to the Keys," January/February 1999, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

20080329
March 29, 2008
Ibex Artifact, Jerusalem, Israel, 1999
Photograph by Kenneth Garrett
Archaeologists discovered this copper ibex artifact, along with 428 other ceremonial objects, in a 5,500-year-old cache in a cave in Nahal Mishmar canyon in Jerusalem, Israel. Casting objects such as this copper scepter or mace head required technical finesse and the use of materials such as arsenic-rich copper ore, which does not occur naturally within 800 miles (1,290 kilometers) of the Holy Land.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Journey to the Copper Age," April 1999, National Geographic magazine)

20080330
March 30, 2008
Mastiff on Mountain, North America, 1967
Photograph by Christopher Knight
Crumbling ice makes for a precarious journey for this mastiff sliding down a slope in North America.
As global warming pushes temperatures higher each year, scientists predict that permanent snow lines of mountains around the world will rise, closing skiing resorts, hurting tourism, swelling major rivers, potentially submerging low-lying areas, and significantly changing landscapes.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Science Finds New Clues to our Climate in Alaska's Mighty Rivers of Ice," February 1967, National Geographic magazine)

20080331
March 31, 2008
Collecting Honey, Sundarban Forest, Bangladesh, 2007
Photograph by Tim Laman
In Bangladesh's Sundarban Forest, a beekeeper fans smoke into a hive of giant honeybees to calm the swarming insects before collecting their honey. Found in forested areas of the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, and central China, Apis dorsata, the giant honeybee, grows to nearly an inch (2.5 centimeters) long and builds hives as large as nine feet (three meters) in diameter.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Mangroves: Forests of the Tide," February 2007, National Geographic magazine)