2007-12-16 High Tide Jump, Barry Island, Wales, 2001 Photograph by Vincent Musi
The boys of Barry Island, Wales, spend summer days seaside, anticipating exhilarating plunges into cold coastal waters. Bordering England for more than 150 miles (241 kilometers), Wales shares a long history with its neighbor. Despite its shared past, the country still embraces a unique culture of its own.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Wales: Finding its Voice," June 2001, National Geographic magazine)
2007-12-17 West Indian Manatee, Florida, 1999 Photograph by Wes Skiles
Like many creatures, the manatee's bulk—they can be as much as 13 feet (4 meters) long and 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms)—belies its aquatic grace. Also called sea cows, manatees are graceful swimmers that typically glide along coastal waters at 5 to 15 miles an hour (8 to 24 kilometers an hour). This West Indian manatee is wintering in a North Florida spring, attracted by the region's constant 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius) waters.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "North Florida Springs," March 1999, National Geographic magazine)
In a ritual that has taken place for centuries, an expectant assemblage awaits a dramatic entrance by performers under darkening skies in the Herodes Atticus Theater in Athens, Greece. This steep-sloped amphitheater was built around A.D. 160 by Greek philosopher and rhetorician Herodes Atticus as a tribute to his wife. The theater still hosts music, dance, and theatrical events today.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A Night in Athens," April 2000, National Geographic Traveler magazine)
2007-12-19 Twilight on Vancouver Island, Canada, 2003 Photograph by Joel Sartore
On Vancouver Island a soaked beach reflects a contemplative evening ride. At 12,079 square miles (31,285 square kilometers), Vancouver Island is the largest island on North America's Pacific Coast. Separated from mainland Canada by several straits, the island is actually the peak of a sunken mountain range.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Pacific Suite," February 2003, National Geographic magazine)
2007-12-20 Harp Seal, Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Canada, 2003 Photograph by Brian Skerry
A young fur seal looks warily around an icy whelping site in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence. Seals that are weaned and have shed their downy fur are called beaters for the way they beat their flippers on the water. Their sleek, unmarred pelts are prime quarry for seal hunters.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Harp Seal: The Hunt for Balance," March 2004, National Geographic magazine)
2007-12-21 Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska, 2003 Photograph by Frans Lanting
Streams of ice flow together like rivers, forming glacier complexes that cover hundreds—sometimes thousands—of square miles in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Covering more than 13 million acres (5.2 million hectares), Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest national park in the U.S. Nearly six Yellowstones could fit within its borders.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Alaska's Giant of Ice and Stone," March 2003, National Geographic magazine)
A perfectly posed young Bengal tiger rests in a clearing in India's Bandhavgarh National Park. This individual is likely the offspring of Sita, a tigress famed in the park for her hunting prowess and prized for her prolific breeding.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Sita: Life of a Wild Tigress," December 1997, National Geographic magazine)
December 23, 2007
Arctic Fox, Hudson Bay, Canada, 2004
Photograph by Norbert Rosing
A stealthy arctic fox steals across a snow-patched ridge in Canada's Hudson Bay. Not much larger than a big housecat, these seemingly delicate northern mammals are as hardy as they come, thriving in the privation and bitter cold of the Arctic north.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Seasons of the Snow Fox," October 2004, National Geographic magazine)
December 24, 2007
Diving in Devil's Ear, Florida, 1998
Photograph by Wes Skiles
Plant tannins from the Santa Fe River mixed with diamond-clear aquifer waters make this cave entrance in Florida's Ginnie Spring appear engulfed in flames. The entrance, called Devil's Ear, is just one portal of hundreds in northern Florida leading to a watery underworld that explorers are slowly bringing to light.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Unlocking the Labyrinth of North Florida Spring," March 1999, National Geographic magazine)
December 25, 2007
Child on Swing, Siorapaluk, Greenland, 2006
Photograph by David McLain
A flawless blue Arctic sky frames a child swinging in Siorapaluk, Greenland, the northernmost permanent settlement in the world. During the past few decades, temperatures have risen in Greenland by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius)—twice the global average—and the island's massive ice sheet is melting faster than at any time during the past 50 years, pushing the Arctic ecosystem into collapse.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Last Days of the Ice Hunters," January 2006, National Geographic magazine)
December 26, 2007
Stick Mantid, Cameroon, 2006
Photograph by Mark Moffett
Most of the roughly 1,800 species of mantids—often called praying mantises—spend their time sitting and waiting, seemingly at prayer. These highly skilled hunters and masters of disguise have fascinated humans for thousands of years; the ancient Greeks first used the term mantis, meaning "prophet."
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Mantids: Armed and Dangerous," January 2006, National Geographic magazine)
December 27, 2007
Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska, 2002
Photograph by Frans Lanting
A crumpled ice field forms at the confluence of two massive glaciers in Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. These glacial rivers snake together among the park's mountains and form ice complexes that cover hundreds—sometimes thousands—of square miles.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Alaska's Giant of Ice and Stone," March 2003, National Geographic magazine
December 28, 2007
Hammerhead Shark, Bahamas, 2007
Photograph by Brian Skerry
Primordial in appearance, great hammerheads, like this one near the Bahamas, are actually among evolution's most advanced sharks. Wide-set eyes and nostrils provide keen peripheral senses, and tiny electroreceptors on its snout help it pinpoint prey. Dozens of serrated teeth do the rest.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Blue Waters of the Bahamas: An Eden for Sharks," March 2007, National Geographic magazine)
December 29, 2007
Molten Lava Flow, Hawaii, 2004
Photograph by Frans Lanting
A flow of glowing lava issues from Mount Kilauea in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Hawaii has some of the youngest land on Earth, remade daily by these rivers of molten rock.
"Kilauea molds the land, belching lava and fumes, hissing, roaring, always transforming," says photographer Frans Lanting. "The view I photographed that day doesn't exist anymore."
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Red Hot Hawaii: Volcanoes National Park," October 2004, National Geographic magazine)
December 30, 2007
Fiji Islands, 2004
Photograph by Tim Laman
In the waters of the Fiji Islands, an emperor shrimp and a commensal crab nearly vanish in the calico pattern of a large leopard sea cucumber. The sea cucumber provides food for the crustaceans in the form of mucus on its skin and defends itself by ejecting its toxic stomach when danger threatens.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Fiji's Rainbow Reefs," November 2004, National Geographic magazine)
December 31, 2007
Wild Mustangs, South Dakota, 2004
Photograph by Maggie Steber
In the wind-tossed plains of Lantry, South Dakota, two wild mustangs playfully kick and cavort. Descended from Spanish horses brought in by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century, mustangs represent a tenuous link to America's frontier past. Researchers estimate the U.S. was once home to more than two million mustangs; today there are fewer than 50,000.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Indian Scenes From a Renaissance," September 2004, National Geographic magazine)
哈哈哈哈 O(∩_∩)O哈哈~ 好久不来了，不小心看了一眼自己主页，发现自动关联了自己以往发过的帖，点进这个看了一眼，笑个半死。。。敢情我当初还发过这么搞笑的东西啊，我自己完全不记得了 
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发表于 2008-1-3 00:51:23
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千斤顶
发表于 2008-1-4 07:52:01
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看不明第一,三,四,十四为啥能获选 
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