Инстаграм National Geographic

natgeo Photo by @dina_litovsky | A flurry of visitors pose for photographs inside Istanbul’s 17th-century Blue Mosque. Known for its 20,000-plus glossy blue tiles, stained glass windows, massive domes, and mother-of-pearl inlays, the opulent mosque was designed by architect and poet Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa. For more images from around the world, follow me @dina_litovsky.

natgeo Photo by George Steinmetz @geosteinmetz | Dallol is a volcanic spring in the Afar Depression of Ethiopia, some 150 feet below sea level. Hyperacidic water precipitates sulphur, which starts out white and gray before turning yellow and then orange as it oxidizes. It’s part of a rift zone that is slowly separating East Africa, and a rare opportunity to see tectonic activity that is usually at the bottom of the ocean. Walking out there feels like a stroll on Planet Ethiopia. To explore more of our world, follow @geosteinmetz.

natgeo Photo by Erika Larsen @erikalarsen888 // Sponsored by @chipotle // Michael Mardesen of Iowa is a veterinarian and hog farmer for A-Frame Acres, an all-natural, sustainable hog farm that has been in his family for five generations. “My whole life I wanted to be a farmer. It’s what my dad did, what my grandpa did,” Michael says. Running a small farm and having enough revenue to feed every mouth is very difficult these days. Becoming a veterinarian enabled Michael to stay in rural Iowa and continue working with his farm and the ag community. His family’s farm works with Niman Ranch, the largest farmer and rancher network in the Western Hemisphere, to be 100 percent third-party-certified under the Certified Humane®️ program. Niman Ranch’s 740 small, independent, U.S. family farmers and ranchers adhere to some of the strictest animal welfare protocols in the industry and have been in a long partnership with Chipotle. Michael says he loves that Chipotle “puts their money where their mouth is in helping aid the young farmers.” // Real food needs real farms. Real farms need real help. Learn more about how @chipotle is cultivating the future of farming by helping young farmers in the U.S.

natgeo Photos by Corey Arnold @arni_coraldo | A few years back, I was invited by wildlife biologist Wes Larson to follow his team as they studied the behavior of black bears, in order to help mitigate potential conflicts between bears and humans in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. But on this day, I was not prepared to come face-to-face with a 350-pound bear waking from hibernation 70 feet deep into a mysterious and claustrophobic sandstone tunnel. You can find my account of the story and how it all ended in the December issue of the magazine in “Through the Lens: Don’t Wake the Bear,” or click the link in my bio @arni_coraldo to read the story online. Flip through the carousel to see outtakes from the scene. In other news, tomorrow I’m heading to Chicago, where I'll spend a couple weeks photographing urban coyotes for an upcoming feature in the magazine. While I am partnering with local coyote experts, I would very much welcome any tips from Chicagoans in locating real-time and consistent sightings of coyotes in the city's most urban settings. Specifically, I’m looking for behavior that is happening now and not in the past, as coyotes normally have quite an extended range of territory. If you find me poking around your backyard at dawn with a huge lens, please say hello! You can reach me via direct message on my personal account only at @arni_coraldo. I will do my best to respond to any useful tips, and I hugely appreciate your help with this little citizen science call out. #natgeo #bear #hibernation #blackbear #wildlifebiology

natgeo Video by @paulnicklen | This is perhaps the most beautiful thing I have ever seen underwater, filmed on expedition with @SeaLegacy last year. The veil that separates the ocean from the air is as thin as a dream, and to swim with sperm whales is to feel as though you've fallen into one. These gentle leviathans have thrived in complex family units off the Dominican coast for generations, probably for millions of years. Sperm whales hold the record for largest predator, largest brain, and loudest animal on earth—capable of making noise louder than a rock concert! Scientists have only just begun to understand these massive marine mammals. Follow me @PaulNicklen for more videos that showcase the beauty of the natural world and for updates from my next trip to the Dominica to swim with the sperm whales. #Whales #Science #Ocean #TurningTheTide

natgeo Photo by @babaktafreshi | A few weeks ago on the shoreline near Christchurch, on the South Island of New Zealand, the Milky Way’s galactic core was sinking to the ocean as I was warming my hands by a bonfire left by fishermen. The brightest point reflecting on the water is Jupiter, set against a dark nebula known as the Pipe, which also forms a celestial Kiwi, the national bird. The little red cloud in the galactic band is Lagoon Nebula, 4,100 light years away. Organized by the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, I traveled around the country for a dozen public talks on photography and the values of preserving the natural night environment of our planet. Learn more @babaktafreshi. #saveournightsky #twanight #astrophotography #stargazing #kiwi

natgeo Photo by @williamodaniels | Russia, 2015. This is the train station in Tynda, a rare Siberian town and main hub of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railway line, which traverses Siberia and the Russian Far East. Its population, originally mainly from the west of the U.S.S.R. (Belarus and Ukraine, over 3,000 miles away), decreased significantly since the collapse of the Soviet Union. I traveled twice on the BAM line on assignment for the magazine in 2013, but I was so struck by this place that I decided to get back on my own two years later, to visit other parts of the line. Follow me on @williamodaniels for more human stories around the world.

natgeo Video by @lucalocatelliphoto | In a lava field in Iceland, this sci-fi looking landscape is home to a high-tech greenhouse that produces barley for cosmetics. Despite the arid landscape, the greenhouse uses geothermal heat and energy and water from a volcanic source below ground. Iceland is one of the most nature-oriented countries in the world, and with scarce resources, new solutions like this greenhouse are developed to try to make more with less. I’ve always been passionate about the relationship among people, technology, and the environment. Sometimes, like in this case, reality goes beyond my imagination. My work as a photographer revolves around exploring this transitional time, where resource management is of paramount importance for humanity. Follow me @lucalocatelliphoto to see more stories on our environment and the solutions we are adopting for a more sustainable living. #iceland #greenhouse #transition #sustainability #lucalocatelliphoto

natgeo Photo by @katieorlinsky | A young girl perches on the bones of a bowhead whale at the site of the annual whaling feast in the Inupiat village of Point Hope, Alaska. Point Hope is the longest continually inhabited community in North America. For the people there, nothing is more important than the bowhead whale.

natgeo Photo by @simonnorfolkstudio and Klaus Thymann I With climate change standing as one of the most pressing issues facing our future, photography is increasingly used as a catalyst to instigate change. Last year I visited Switzerland with Klaus Thymann of @projectpressure to photograph the Rhône Glacier, which is disappearing at an alarming rate. There is a small shop that carves an ice grotto into the glacier and charges tourists to experience the interior of the blue ice, so it has been worth their money to attempt to slow the glacier’s retreat. They have invested heavily in a special thermal blanket that has kept about 25 meters (82 feet, in depth) of ice from disappearing, keeping the grotto intact. However, after a few harsh winters on the mountain, the blanket is starting to disintegrate. And unfortunately the method is not scaleable: we cannot do this to all the world’s ice; the gesture is as forlorn and doomed as the glacier itself. So with heavy lament, this glacier, which has existed for millennia, will disappear within the lifetime of children born today. For more on this project follow @simonnorfolkstudio #glaciers #rhoneglacier #Switzerland #climatechange #globalwarming @projectpressure

natgeo Photo by Simon Norfolk @simonnorfolkstudio I The Bavarian Forest National Park (German: Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a national park in the Eastern Bavarian Forest on Germany's border with the Czech Republic. Founded in 1970 as the first national park in Germany, since its expansion in 1997 it now covers an area of 24,250 hectares. Together with the neighboring Czech Bohemian Forest, the Bavarian Forest forms the largest contiguous area of woodland in Central Europe. Follow me @simonnorfolkstudio for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects #Bavaria #Germany #NationalPark #simonnorfolk #forest

natgeo Video by Ami Vitale @amivitale | Mia and Emilka are best friends. Mia, the kitty, had her tail bitten off by a different rhino when she was a little thing. But she persisted, kept her heart open, and one day found true love with a rhino named Emilka at Dvur Kralove @safariparkdvurkralove in the Czech Republic. Mia and Emilka look forward to seeing each other every day. It's beyond sweet. @safariparkdvurkralove is the same place where the last northern white rhinos came from for their transfer to Kenya's @olpejeta Conservancy. The people here have been instrumental in saving species from the brink of extinction. ️️️Learn how you can get involved by following @amivitale @safariparkdvurkralove & @olpejeta #WorthMoreAlive #DontLetThemDisappear #rhinos #saverhinos #catsofinstagram

natgeo Photo by Frans Lanting @franslanting | I’m sharing this image of a young orangutan in recognition of World Orangutan Day. He has reason to look distraught. Nearly half of all orangutans—a staggering 150,000, in all—vanished from Borneo in the past 15 years, due to destruction of their forest habitat and the impact of the wild pet trade. This orphaned young male was rescued and brought to a rehab center, but he won’t have much of a future unless we protect the forests all orangutans depend on for their survival. I welcome you to support the organizations that are on the front lines of helping orangutans, with public activities as well as covert operations aimed at busting wildlife criminals. @World_Wildlife and @WildAid need your help. And follow me @FransLanting for more encounters with endangered animals around the world. @leonardodicapriofdn #WorldOrangutanDay #Borneo #Family #Twins #Orphans #Endangered #Wildlife

natgeo Photo by Charlie Hamilton James @chamiltonjames I Blood drips from the beak of a Rüppell's griffin vulture in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. Vultures are important to the eco-system as they consume and remove animal carcasses that could otherwise spread disease—in fact they consume more meat than all the other scavengers and predators combined on the plains of East Africa. They are in serious decline across most of their ranges due to habitat loss and poisoning. So let's have a little love for them.

natgeo Photo by @ladzinski | The face of a warrior. This lion is 11 years old, battle worn and still holding strong. He’s held a solitary pride on the fringe of Kruger National Park for the last 5 years. It’s a place rich with lions meaning he’s faced countless battles to retain his Royal position as king of his territory. For a lone male to accomplish this is no easy task and in his time he’s reared dozens upon dozens of cubs. His face is a badge of honor in the lion world, hieroglyphs displaying a history of violent life at the top of the food chain.

natgeo Photo by Ken Geiger @kengeiger | Here, one might say that "simba" translates as "caution, speed bump ahead." But of course simba means "lion" in Swahili. This guy, after spending most of the day feasting on a kudu, decided to take his evening nap in the middle of the road. Speed limits in Kruger National Park are low, making wildlife safety the priority over tourist vehicles. #krugernationalpark #lion #SouthAfrica To explore more images of the #Africa follow @KenGeiger

natgeo Photos by Tim Laman @timlaman | Birds of paradise have a reason to celebrate this year on Earth Day: the Province of West Papua, where 16 of the 40 birds of paradise are found, has declared its commitment to set aside 70% of the land as protected forest! Swipe to see four of the species found only in West Papua, Indonesia: Vogelkop superb, red, Wilson’s, and western parotia. See more @TimLaman as we celebrate this Earth Day! Birds of paradise are the global ambassadors for conservation of the forests of Papua. #conservationprovince #TanahPapua #papua #Indonesia #birdofparadise @BirdsofParadiseProject

natgeo Photos by Charlie Hamilton James @chamiltonjames | Fires raged in the Brazilian Amazon during 2017 in Araribóia, indigenous territory in the state of Maranhão. Some were started by farmers trying to clear land for crops or cattle, others started to cover up illegal logging operations, and some were natural. When these images were shot, the Brazilian Amazon had just experienced its worst year on record for forest fires—now 2019 is likely to eclipse that. Maranhão, like so many other states within the Amazon, has been extensively logged, and just a few pockets of original forest remain. The rest of the land has been turned over to agriculture and cattle ranches. Within a few miles of where these pictures were taken live some of the last remaining uncontacted Awã people—made famous across the world a few weeks ago, when footage of them was released. The forests in Araribóia are protected by a disparate group of underfunded firefighters made up of brave and dedicated Guajajara tribe members, volunteers, and FUNAI (the National Indian Foundation) employees who take on fires, sometimes armed with nothing more than machetes.

natgeo More than 70 percent of the Earth is covered by water and humans have only explored a fraction of it. With waterproof cameras, National Geographic photographers have figured out how to merge our world with the mysterious one below. * To celebrate reaching 100 million followers, we’re resharing a few photos taken at sea level you’ve liked most. Remember to post your best Nat Geo-inspired photos using the hashtag #natgeo100contest for a chance to win a Nat Geo photo safari to Tanzania. Carousel photos by @paulnicklen, @daviddoubilet, @paulnicklen, @thomaspeschak, @jenniferhayesig.

natgeo How do you prevent plastics from entering the ocean? Tell us your solutions, and staff writer Laura Parker -- who specializes in covering climate change and marine environments -- will respond with thoughts and suggestions in the comments. These recent images represent the 9 million tons of plastic waste that end up in the ocean every year. Our Planet or Plastic? initiative aims to prevent 1 billion items from reaching the ocean by 2020. Take the pledge to help at natgeo.com/plasticpledge. Photos by Justin Hofman @justinhofman ; Maarten Wouter ; and Jasper Doest @jasperdoest.