National Geographic MagazineWallpapers 2° Trimestre 2013[39 foto]

National Geographic Magazine Aprile 2013

Photograph by Paul Nicklen From "Manatees," National Geographic, April 2013 Manatees swim close to the water’s surface because they are air-breathing mammals. They use their stiff facial bristles to guide food into their mouths.

Photograph by Michael Melford From "Delaware, at Last," National Geographic, April 2013 The Brandywine River powered American industry in the 19th century. Walker’s textile mill joins many others that dot the riverbanks. Upstream, the DuPont Company made gunpowder; other mills produced everything from paper to snuff.

Photograph by Zahoor Ahmed From "Top Shots," National Geographic, April 2013 "I'm deeply in love with birds," says Ahmed, a wildlife photographer. He spent two months near a saltwater lake in Kallar Kahar to capture this shot of an Asian paradise flycatcher feeding its chick. Despite his fancy feathers, the male does the feeding and incubates eggs in the nest.

Photograph by Michael Melford From "Delaware, at Last," National Geographic, April 2013 Du Pont descendants still live in the 1923 Granogue mansion, one of many grand estates that have preserved a lush natural corridor along the Brandywine River in Delaware. Portions of the corridor form the backbone of a proposed park.

Photograph by Evgenia Arbugaeva From "Mammoth Tusks," National Geographic, April 2013 The journey from permafrost to market—nearly 90 percent of Siberia’s tusks end up in China—begins by small boat.

Photograph by Paul Nicklen From "Manatees," National Geographic, April 2013 The Florida manatee is thriving in Kings Bay, and so is tourism.

Photograph by Michael Melford From "Delaware, at Last," National Geographic, April 2013 As dawn breaks, a lone sycamore tree emerges from the mist at Woodlawn, the 1,100-acre heart of Delaware’s proposed national monument. Industrialist William Bancroft bought this land for a park, predicting in 1909, “It may take a hundred years to work out.”

Photograph by Paul Nicklen From "Manatees," National Geographic, April 2013 Propeller scars mark this manatee—graphic evidence of a too-close encounter with a boat. About one in four of Florida’s 360 manatee deaths in 2012 resulted from collisions. Slow-speed zones help, but some boaters resent the restrictions.

Photograph by Alex Webb From "Red Gold," National Geographic, April 2013 A kapok log dangles from a crane on the Ucayali River outside Pucallpa. Soaring giants draped with orchids, kapok trees provide rich habitat for primates, birds, amphibians, and insects. They’re also in high demand for pulp and plywood.

Photograph by Michael Melford From "Delaware, at Last," National Geographic, April 2013 Along a road through Woodlawn, oaks and maples shimmer with the season. Woodlawn is one of the last large undeveloped sites in an area increasingly hemmed in by the encroaching outskirts of Wilmington and Philadelphia.

Photograph by Eiko Jones From "Top Shots," National Geographic, April 2013 Jones was photographing water lilies from four feet under when he saw a "black cloud" in the corner of his eye. Countless tadpoles streamed by. "It went on for ages," says the 41-year-old photographer. "It was like a huge flock of birds flying through a forest, but completely silent."

Photograph by Paul Nicklen From "Manatees," National Geographic, April 2013 Young manatees nurse from teats behind the mother’s flippers during a period of intense maternal care that may last two years. Constantly swimming beside their mothers, calves learn how to find food and sanctuary.

Photograph by Evgenia Arbugaeva From "Mammoth Tusks," National Geographic, April 2013 A tusk hunter scours the coast of Bolshoy Lyakhovskiy Island. Lured by rising prices for mammoth ivory, hundreds of men cross the frozen Arctic seas each spring to search for it along eroding shorelines.

Photograph by Michael Melford From "Delaware, at Last," National Geographic, April 2013 A Pennsylvania field splashed with grape hyacinths was the site of heavy combat in 1777 during the Battle of Brandywine. British troops outflanked Washington’s army, clearing a path for the redcoats to march on Philadelphia and take the city.

Photograph by Paul Nicklen From "Manatees," National Geographic, April 2013 Solitary by nature, manatees are forced into sociability on winter days. Lacking the blubber that insulates whales, they crowd warm springs and power plant discharge sites.

Photograph by Michael Melford From "Delaware, at Last," National Geographic, April 2013 Painter Andrew Wyeth kept a secret studio a few miles from this Woodlawn farmhouse, creating works of art inspired by the surrounding landscape until his death in 2009. Some of his paintings evoke similar wintry scenes.

National Geographic Magazine Maggio 2013

Photograph by Michael Yamashita From "China's Grand Canal," National Geographic, May 2013 Barges long plied the 1,100-mile canal between Beijing and Hangzhou, its glittering southern terminus. Bankside revitalization includes replicas of ancient temples.

Photograph by Peter Essick From "The Curse of Fertilizer," National Geographic, May 2013 To grow plentiful food crops, farms need more nitrogen than naturally occurs in the soil. Fertilizer runoff is minimized on this Wisconsin farm by planting strips of alfalfa between corn and soybeans.

Photograph by Sergey Gorshkov From "Wrangel Island," National Geographic, May 2013 A barrier beach of marine rubble stretches toward desolate Cape Blossom, at the southwestern tip of Wrangel Island. The Siberian mainland lies 88 miles to the south.

Photograph by Sylwia Domaradzka From "Top Shots," National Geographic, May 2013 On a tour of central Poland's countryside last fall, Domaradzka saw many small battles between white-tailed eagles. These two birds in particular wanted to sit in the same spot. "There was an awful lot of fighting and bickering among them," she says.

Photograph by Peter Essick, NDVI processing by Bill Stocks From "The Curse of Fertilizer," National Geographic, May 2013 The light orange in an infrared image shows where this Iowa cornfield has the least nitrogen. Farmers use such images to target fertilizer application to avoid the runoff that pollutes waterways.

Photograph by Michael Yamashita From "China's Grand Canal," National Geographic, May 2013 Steel rods on a flatbed at Huaigang Steel in Huaian will be loaded onto barges for shipment on the Grand Canal. The waterway yearly carries some 400 million metric tons of coal, bricks, grain, and other cargo to points between Hangzhou and Jining; north of Jining it has largely dried up.

Photograph by Peter Essick From "The Curse of Fertilizer," National Geographic, May 2013 Chickens provide the fertilizer on this Pennsylvania farm. The mobile coops are relocated daily to distribute manure evenly so that it won’t drain into the Chesapeake Bay.

Photograph by Michael Yamashita From "China's Grand Canal," National Geographic, May 2013 Fishermen work the Hai River in the shadow of the Ferris wheel in Tianjin. The Hai, which flows through Tianjin, fills a stretch of the canal that has been restored to attract tourists.

Photograph by Eva Kraaijenbrink From "Top Shots," National Geographic, May 2013 At an animal show near Barneveld, Netherlands, this Angora rabbit was being inspected for the quality of its fur, which is often used to make luxury sweaters and scarves. "It was lying so still, it looked almost dead," Kraaijenbrink says. She zoomed in to see if it was still breathing. It was.

Photograph by Peter Essick From "The Curse of Fertilizer," National Geographic, May 2013 An Amish farmer spreads manure and straw from his barn on a recently harvested field. The manure provides nitrogen for next year’s crop. If applied properly, the homegrown fertilizer won’t add excess nitrogen to the local watershed.

Photograph by Sergey Gorshkov From "Wrangel Island," National Geographic, May 2013 Two bull muskoxen size each other up. In September, with mating season under way, bulls engage in frequent head-butting confrontations to establish dominance.

National Geographic Magazine Giugno 2013

Photograph by Rahul Tailor From "Top Shots," National Geographic, June 2013 After a weekend visit to a flea market where people sold furniture and old clothes, Tailor passed by a pink mosque wall in his hometown. In front of it, two birds stood with their heads obstructed by an old roof that offered an element of privacy.

Photograph by Mark Thiessen From "Pressure Dive," National Geographic, June 2013 Divers wrangle a 3-D camera while filming a test in the New Britain Trench off Papua New Guinea. The sub bristles with lights, cameras, and scientific equipment.

Photograph by Amy Toensing From "First Australians," National Geographic, June 2013 Aboriginals in touch with the land see desert oaks and imagine the drinking water in the trees’ cavities. They see a full moon above Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and find light for a nocturnal event.

Photograph by Marcus Bleasdale From "Viking Whalers," National Geographic, June 2013 On Røst an abandoned sheep hut testifies to the changing times.

Photograph by Santanu Paul From "Top Shots," National Geographic, June 2013 At the start of Diwali, a festival across India celebrating light, Paul went with three friends to a neighborhood fireworks show. As the sky lit up, he realized that his friends' spellbound reaction offered a unique angle.

Photograph by Joel Sartore From "Miracle in Mozambique," National Geographic, June 2013 Clear-cuts and remnants of rain forest flank the Vanduzi waterfall, on the east side of Mount Gorongosa. The mountain was added to the national park in 2010, but thousands of people still live on it. “Many cut firewood to burn for heat and cooking,” says photographer Joel Sartore, “and many practice slash-and-burn agriculture.” Philanthropist Greg Carr is funding efforts to restore the park.

Photograph by Joel Sartore From "Miracle in Mozambique," National Geographic, June 2013 Blue waxbills—awake or dozing off—are a common sight in Gorongosa’s dry, bushy grasslands. So far, nearly 400 bird species have been documented in the park.

Photograph by Chandrabhal Singh From "Top Shots," National Geographic, June 2013 During a trip last year to photograph flamingos that spend the winter near India's Ujjani Dam, Singh watched as this brown-headed gull scanned the glassy water. He pressed the shutter, luckily, at the very moment the bird dipped to catch a fish.

Photograph by Marcus Bleasdale From "Viking Whalers," National Geographic, June 2013 Rich in natural beauty, Skrova boasted the highest percentage of millionaires in all Norway as recently as 1980, thanks to its thriving fish factories and whaling station. All but one factory has since closed.

Photograph by Amy Toensing From "First Australians," National Geographic, June 2013 The Anangu of central Australia call the iconic sandstone monolith Uluru. They believe it was created by their ancestral beings. Europeans dubbed it Ayers Rock in 1873, but the name was changed back to Uluru in 1985.

Photograph by Mark Thiessen From "Pressure Dive," National Geographic, June 2013 DEEPSEA CHALLENGER is lifted on deck by a shipborne crane after a test dive to 26,972 feet. The orange bag adds buoyancy for the ascent; the gray ones shift the sub to a horizontal position for recovery.

Photograph by Rudranil Ghosal From "Top Shots," National Geographic, June 2013 It was raining outside, so Ghosal wanted to find something to photograph in his home. Using three forks and a lotus bud that he cut in half, he created a design on a glass table that resembled an intricate flower growing sideways.

National Geographic MagazineWallpapers 1° Trimestre 2013[44 foto]

National Geographic Magazine Gennaio 2013

Photograph by Cory Richards From "The New Age of Exploration," National Geographic, January 2013 Cory Richards and his two fellow climbers endured hurricane-force winds and temperatures of minus 50°F as they struggled to reach the summit of Gasherbrum II. “When you do succeed—well, you never conquer a mountain,” Richards reflects. “You are always its guest. In this case, we were its guest when it was in a bad mood.”

Photograph by Steve Winter From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 A jaguar on the hunt trips a camera trap at a spot frequented by piglike peccaries, a favorite prey. To the Waorani, one of the native groups in this area, jaguars are ancestral spirits that visit shamans in dreams to tell them where game is plentiful in the forest.

Photograph by Frank Hurley, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales From "Mawson's Antarctic Trek," National Geographic, January 2013 Adélie penguins provided a source of food for the expedition’s humans as well as its dogs. They also provided dubious amusement: The crew would sneak up on penguins standing near cliffs and knock them into the ocean.

Photograph by Trisha Ratledge From "Top Shots," National Geographic, January 2013 Seeing her 14-year-old daughter laughing and twirling in Tokyo's Mori Tower was the most poignant moment for Ratledge during a family trip. "It represented Emma literally dancing from one important stage in her life—middle school—to the next, high school," says the journalist mother.

Photograph by Tim Laman From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 Cobalt-winged parakeets flock to a pool. Scientists have identified nearly 600 species of birds in the park.

Photograph by Martin Oeggerli, with support from School of Life Sciences, FHNW From "Microbes," National Geographic, January 2013 INTESTINAL BACTERIA The human gut teems with bacteria, many of their species still unknown. They help us digest food and absorb nutrients, and they play a part in protecting our intestinal walls. Gut bacteria may also help regulate weight and ward off autoimmune diseases.

Photograph by NASA From "The New Age of Exploration," National Geographic, January 2013 A quarter million miles from home, astronaut James Irwin salutes the flag and the achievement of the Apollo 15 mission of 1971, the fourth manned journey to the moon. David Scott, mission commander, radioed to Earth, “I realize there’s a fundamental truth to our nature—man must explore.”

Photograph by Martin Oeggerli, with support from School of Life Sciences, FHNW From "Microbes," National Geographic, January 2013 STREPTOCOCCUS A colorized electron microscope image captures delicate chains of streptococcus in a laboratory sample. Though some strep infections can be deadly, many strains are harmless—among the thousands of benign beings that make their home in our bodies.

Photograph by Steve Winter From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 From the bromeliads, ferns, and orchids that cover a kapok tree 160 feet above the forest floor to the jaguars that prowl below, Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park is home to countless plant and animal species. All of them now face threats from oil development.

Photograph by Frank Hurley, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales From "Mawson's Antarctic Trek," National Geographic, January 2013 Two men lean into a blizzard to chop ice for drinking water, an essential daily chore during a three-year Australian-sponsored scientific expedition to Antarctica from 1911 to 1914.

Photograph by Martin Oeggerli, with support from School of Life Sciences, FHNW From "Microbes," National Geographic, January 2013 MOUTH MICROBES The human mouth hosts a panoply of microbes, some taking up residence on the mouth lining (blue) within days after birth. Harmful species form biofilms, like the plaque that encourages tooth decay, or colonize the crevices between teeth and gums, causing periodontal disease. Oral probiotics designed to boost the population of species that outcompete pathogenic ones could help prevent or reverse dental disease.

Photography by Carsten Peter From "The New Age of Exploration," National Geographic, January 2013 A team of scientists pitches camp in a lethal environment of heat and toxic gases. Photographer Carsten Peter documents their efforts to fathom the fiery workings of Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Photograph by David Bowman From "Visions," National Geographic, January 2013 United States—Like a spaceship gearing up to lift off, a carnival ride throws off orbs of light in this panoramic time exposure. The whirling captures the revelry of a summer’s eve at the Minnesota State Fair.

Photograph by Tim Laman From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 White-bellied spider monkey, Ateles belzebuth, avg. length, 20 inches

Photograph by Shelley Smart From "Top Shots," National Geographic, January 2013 This chunk of Antarctic ice, rising some 60 feet, greeted Smart and her mother when they toured the continent aboard a Russian icebreaker. The marine biologist and environmentalist says: "Antarctica is where you go when you want to discover what Earth used to be like."

Photograph by Tim Laman From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 A fiery glow in the sky over Yasuní, revealed in a long exposure, comes from the flares of oil wells burning off gas. With oil operations creeping ever closer, the possibility of destruction hangs heavily over the last untouched corner of this primeval forest.

National Geographic Magazine Febbraio 2013

Photograph by Mattias Klum From "Venom," National Geographic, February 2013 The hollow fangs of the Jameson’s mamba deliver toxins that can lead to respiratory paralysis—and a person’s death within hours.

Photograph by Matthieu Paley From "Wakhan Corridor," National Geographic, February 2013 Blanket-draped yaks hunker down outside a young couple’s yurt on the eve of a summer trading journey. Made of interlaced poles covered with felt, these portable homes are packed up and reassembled for seasonal migration. Wooden doors are imported to the treeless plateau from lower altitudes.

Photograph by Charlie Hamilton James From "Britain's Otters," National Geographic, February 2013 A female searches for prey in a river in western England. An otter’s eyes become more convex underwater, the better to see fish.

Photograph by Matthieu Paley From "Wakhan Corridor," National Geographic, February 2013 High above the tree line, a winter caravan of traders relies on sure-footed yaks to traverse a treacherous path down to a lower valley. At altitudes above 14,000 feet, winters in the Little Pamir last eight months or more, and snow can fall even in summer.

Photograph by Mattias Klum From "Venom," National Geographic, February 2013 Snakes, snake eggs, and lizards infuse rice wine in bottles at a restaurant in Le Mat Village. Locals say that drinking these concoctions eases pain, keeps organs healthy, and boosts virility.

Photograph by Indranil Mukhopadhyay From "Top Shots," National Geographic, February 2013 Clouds added drama as the sun rose over Utah's Canyonlands National Park one morning last summer. Mukhopadhyay, a software engineer, saw how the rays would enrich the view. "Landscape art," he says, "is simply being in the right place with the right light."

Photograph by Charlie Hamilton James From "Britain's Otters," National Geographic, February 2013 In the Shetland Islands a mother and two male cubs listen intently to the clicking of the photographer's camera. The nose of the cub at right had a recent encounter with a crab. Adults don’t live as pairs, and males play no part in raising the young.

Photograph by Mattias Klum From "Venom," National Geographic, February 2013 Venom from snakes like the Jameson’s mamba, seen here in Cameroon, may soon combat heart disease.

Photograph by Matthieu Paley From "Wakhan Corridor," National Geographic, February 2013 Nomads by necessity, the Kyrgyz move their herds across the Wakhan—a panhandle of alpine valleys and high mountains in northeastern Afghanistan.

Photograph by Mattias Klum From "Venom," National Geographic, February 2013 Barefoot and bare-handed, 59-year-old Huang Van Tan searches for snakes—preferably cobras—in a rice field near his village. He uses a long pole to wrangle a snake into a bag tucked into the back of his pants. He keeps a few snakes for his family to eat and sells the rest to a local restaurant or an exporter. A cobra can bring a hundred dollars—a lot in rural Vietnam.

Photograph by Charlie Hamilton James From "Britain's Otters," National Geographic, February 2013 A mother swims above the ochre world of the Shetland kelp beds, checking out photographer Charlie Hamilton James. A bright air bubble, escaping from her fur, streams past her head, and she leaves a champagne trail of other bubbles in her wake. To find an otter in the water, look for the bubbles.

Photograph by Matthieu Paley From "Wakhan Corridor," National Geographic, February 2013 A girl carries a pair of lambs to be reunited with their mothers for the night. On especially cold days the vulnerable young animals are kept warm in cloth bags hung in the herders’ huts. The Kyrgyz complain that their winters are brutal. But would they want to call any other place home?

National Geographic Magazine Marzo 2013

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 The bonobo, once called the pygmy chimpanzee, is a unique species of ape, native only to forests on the left bank of the Congo River. Recent research casts new light on their sexual and other behavior.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 In Japan the nighttime viewing of cherry blossoms in spring, like these at Kyoto’s Hirano Shrine, is a special event. “The cherries’ only fault: the crowds that gather when they bloom,” wrote Saigyo, a 12th-century poet.

Photograph by Eugene Richards From "Fracking in North Dakota," National Geographic, March 2013 Natural gas flared as waste is a new sight on the Dakota prairie, where fracking—a way of extracting hard-to-reach oil—and directional drilling have sparked a boom.

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 The vast Congo River, comprising many large and small channels, has been an impassable barrier between bonobos and their ape kin. Chimps and gorillas live only on the right bank, bonobos only on the left.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 An Islamic garden, it is said, is a palace without a roof. Enthralled with the art of Islam, heiress Doris Duke created Shangri La, her estate in Honolulu. The central courtyard, with its antique Persian tiles, separates public and private space. With permission of Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art

Photograph by Harry Colquhoun From "Top Shots," National Geographic, March 2013 After taking macro photos of other edibles—nuts, berries, candy—Colquhoun, a software developer, was drawn to the colors of this moldy peach skin. "I'll have a pretty good catalog of moldy stuff in a year or two," he jokes. The photo is a composite of 30 highly focused images.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 The gardens of Kykuit, at the Rockefeller estate in Sleepy Hollow, New York, were planned for day or night display. A row of lindens leads to the perfection of the Temple of Aphrodite.

Photograph by Joe McNally From "Drones May Be Watching You," National Geographic, March 2013 With eight arms spanning less than a yard, a German MikroKopter provides a stable camera platform for under $5,000.

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 A young female bonobo relaxes in the forest at Lui Kotale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her lips are orange from eating clay, probably to counter plant toxins in her diet.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 To know Kykuit, said William Welles Bosworth, who designed its gardens, “one must experience?...? late evening when all is peacefully eloquent.”

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 Bonobo youngsters such as Zizu, here playing with a sibling, are born black-faced, unlike chimps, which are born with pink faces that gradually darken. Bonobo limbs remain slender as they mature, not so thick and burly as chimps.

Photograph by Gerson de Oliveira From "Top Shots," National Geographic, March 2013 With only a round-trip train ticket and his camera, de Oliveira traveled to a nearby festival marking the anniversary of Brazil's 1835 Farroupilha Revolution. As part of the celebration, he says, "the rooster is a historical symbol and is considered a king."

Photograph by Eugene Richards From "Fracking in North Dakota," National Geographic, March 2013 A row of mobile homes alongside an abandoned farm building in Watford City signals a reversal of fortune in a state that had steadily been losing population. Since 2010 tens of thousands of people—most refugees from the great recession—have flooded into the oil patch hoping to find work. Those who don’t succeed risk ending up homeless and jobless.

Photograph by Joe McNally From "Drones May Be Watching You," National Geographic, March 2013 Northrop Grumman’s X-47B, an unmanned aircraft being tested for the U.S. Navy, is designed to take off from an aircraft carrier, unleash two tons of weapons, and land again—on its own, with a preset mission, but without even a remote pilot. By sparing human war fighters “dull, dirty, or dangerous duty” (an industry buzz phrase), drones make some acts of war easier.

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 The youngster Ulrich rides his mother, Uma, to the next foraging site. Bonobos spend much of their time on the ground, enjoying exclusive access to plant foods that on the right bank of the Congo are claimed by gorillas.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 A fete like this, in the sumptuous gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte, marked the beginning of the end for owner Nicolas Fouquet in 1661. Louis XIV came, saw, and coveted; he confiscated the property and imprisoned Fouquet.