 Photo of the Day 244
Photograph by William Albert Allard A veiled woman of the Untouchable caste pauses for a photo while sweeping outside her home in India. India's constitution forbids caste discrimination and specifically abolishes Untouchability, but the hierarchies and social codes of Hinduism perpetuate the system. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Untouchable," June 2003, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 243
Photograph by Michael Nichols Water-filled "potholes" dot the Esplanade, a rock formation on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, as lightning crackles in the distance. The Esplanade region is known for the dramatic weathered-sandstone pillars called hoodoos that dot the landscape. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Unexpected Canyon," January 2006, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 242
Photograph by Carsten Peter Climbers in Ethiopia's Danakil Desert prepare to descend into Ertale volcano. The volcano, which has been active for nearly a century, has a lake of molten lava at the center of its caldera. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Africa's Danakil Desert: Cruelest Place on Earth," October 2005, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 241
Photograph by William Albert Allard Elephants explore their creative side with super-sized musical instruments, including this custom-made xylophone, at the Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, Thailand. Elephant handlers called mahouts encourage the animals to play by moving their arms, but the symphonic pachyderms select the notes and rhythms on their own. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Thailand's Urban Giants," October 2005, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 240
Photograph by Randy Olson A rainbow spreads over a desert town in northwest Queensland, Australia, after a monsoon soaking. Every year, a climatological flip-flop draws the rainy-season weather down from India and douses this bone-dry land in a phenomenon known locally as "the wet." (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Wet Down Under," November 2004, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 239
Photograph by Richard Olsenius A Veterans of Foreign Wars honor guard stands at attention for a three-round salute in honor of Memorial Day. First widely observed in 1868, Decoration Day, as it was originally known, was a time to honor fallen Civil War soldiers by decorating their graves. In 1971, the U.S. Congress made Memorial Day a national holiday honoring all Americans who have died in service to their country. (Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "In Search of Lake Wobegon," December 2000, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 238
Photograph by Nicolas Reynard A Moken tribesman in Myanmar's Andaman Islands displays two large cowrie shells. The Moken, a nomadic sea people who live among the 800 islands of the Mergui Archipelago, are divers and beachcombers, taking what they need each day from the Andaman Sea. They accumulate little and live on land only during the monsoons. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Sea Gypsies of Myanmar," April 2005, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 237
Photograph by Carsten Peter A fisheye lens captures the desolate gray of a volcanic plain on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Kamchatka is a scimitar-shaped spit of land on Russia's far east coast, home to more than a hundred volcanoes, 29 of which are active. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Russia's Frozen Inferno," August 2001, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 236
Photograph by Raymond Gehman A fuchsia sunset backdrops a stand of palm trees on Florida's Captiva Island. Captiva is one of four quiet barrier islands on the Gulf coast of Florida—Sanibel, North Captiva, and Cayo Costa are the others—renowned as havens for boating, fishing, and seashell-collecting. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Islands of the Shell Coast," November/December 1992, National Geographic Traveler magazine) Photo of the day 235
Photograph by Darlyne Murawski A puss moth larva disposes of its old skin (left) and head capsule (right) after molting on a leaf in England. These disarmingly colorful critters actually pack some potent weaponry. A gland on the moth's thorax sprays formic acid, and its upright rear appendages sport noxious, pink tentacles. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Moths Come to Light," March 1997, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 234
Photograph by Jim Richardson The uniformly whitewashed cottages of Pennan, Scotland, line up around a quiet cove in Moray Firth as boats rest within a small manmade harbor. The town has been in existence for over a thousand years but gained international fame in the 1980s as the fictional village of Ferness in the popular movie Local Hero. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Celt Appeal," March 2006, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 233
Photograph by George Grall A group of young seahorses drifts in shallow waters off Manly, New South Wales, Australia. From Canada to Tasmania, most coastal areas with sea grass beds, mangroves, or coral reefs can lay claim to a seahorse species or two. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Improbable Seahorse," October 1994, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 232
Photograph by Reza A lone man walks over sand dunes in the Saudi Arabian desert. This oil-rich kingdom on the Arabia Peninsula covers some 770,000 square miles (2 million square kilometers), more than 98 percent of which is desert. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Kingdom on Edge: Saudi Arabia," October 2003, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 231
Photograph by Carsten Peter A group of Afar nomads leads camels through Ethiopia's Danakil Desert. The Afar regard themselves as one ethnic group, though their population of about three million is divided among Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. "We are the people who move," said one Afar woman. "From the beginning that has been our way." (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Africa's Danakil Desert: Cruelest Place on Earth," October 2005, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 230
Photograph by Justin Guariglia An artist in Kyoto, Japan, carves a mask used in Noh, one of Japan's oldest theatre genres. The masks generally wear a deadpan expression. In Noh, the drama is conveyed through the music and the actors' symbolic movements. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Found in Translation," May/June 2004, National Geographic Traveler magazine) Photo of the day 229
Photograph by Jonathan Blair A quiet pond reflects snow-dusted trees and granite outcrops of the Sierra Nevada in California's Yosemite National Park. Solitude in Yosemite may seem like romantic nostalgia to its 3.5 million annual tourists. But opportunities to experience true wilderness are as plentiful and as varied as the park's natural treasures. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Yosemite—Forever?," January 1985, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 228
Photograph by Medford Taylor A multicolored sunset contrasts the bleached bones of dead cattle in Australia's Simpson Desert. Though forbiddingly dry, the Simpson Desert has aquifers and floodplains that make parts of it ideal livestock-grazing country. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Simpson Desert," April 1992, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 227
Photograph by Gordon Wiltsie Jagged peaks pierce the icy expanse of Antarctica's Queen Maud Land. These stark granite formations are the visible tips of mountains that lie buried beneath an ice sheet some 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) thick. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "On the Edge of Antarctica: Queen Maud Land," February 1998, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 226
Photograph by Tim Laman An orange crab crawls on a leaf on Panay Island in the Philippines. The islands of the Philippines have some 12,000 plant and 1,100 land vertebrate species. But habitat loss threatens to erase much of this ecological diversity. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Hotspots: The Philippines," July 2002, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 225
Photograph by James Balog Icebergs, including one with a sapphire pool of meltwater, clutter Greenland's Jakobshavn Fjord near the village of Ilulissat. The glacier that produced this flotilla has receded some four miles (six kilometers) since the year 2000. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Big Thaw," June 2007, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 224
Photograph by George Steinmetz A young dromedary camel peeks underneath its mother as she casually drinks in the Guelta Archeï, a steep canyon in the Chadian Sahara. But camels beware. These isolated waters hold a zoological surprise: Algae, fertilized by camel droppings, are eaten by fish that are preyed upon by a group of crocodiles. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Journey to the Heart of the Sahara," March 1999, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 223
Photograph by Joel Sartore Birds perch on a cactus as a gray fox warily stands below in Chile's Atacama Desert. Rain rarely falls on the Atacama's coastline, but dense fog known as camanchaca is abundant. The fog nourishes plant communities from cactuses to ferns. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Driest Place on Earth," August 2003, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 222
Photograph by Alex Webb A Manoki Indian in a feathered headdress and beads glides down a stream in Brazil's Amazon River Basin. The Manoki are one of about 170 indigenous Amazonian peoples whose homelands are imperiled by an intense land rush in the Amazon fueled by the timber, agriculture, and cattle industries. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Last of the Amazon," January 2007, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 221
Photograph by Jodi Cobb Japanese macaques, also called snow monkeys, live farther north than any other non-human primates. Their thick coats help them survive the frigid temperatures of central Japan's highlands. But when the mercury really plummets, they go to plan B: hot-tubbing in the region's many thermal springs. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Geisha," October 1995, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 220
Photograph by Darlyne Murawski Sensitive hairs and nerves on the back of the green grappler moth caterpillar detect the slightest touch of prey. Lightning-fast reflexes and six needle-tipped claws spell the end for this termite in Maui, Hawaii. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Killer Caterpillars: Built to Eat Flesh," June 2003, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the day 219
Photograph by Medford Taylor A mauve sunset blankets a boatyard in Yscloskey, Louisiana, in 2001. This and nearly all the other fishing hamlets in the marshlands of St. Bernard Parish southeast of New Orleans were flattened in the summer of 2005 by Hurricane Katrina's 20-foot (6-meter) storm surge. Years later, the region's fisheries and oil and gas industries are still rebuilding. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "ZIP USA: Delacroix, Louisiana," July 2001, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 218
Photograph by Peter Essick A colony of monarch butterflies clings to a tree in the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve in the mountains of central Mexico. The Mexican government is working to encourage tourism and discourage illegal logging in the preserve, where millions of these delicate orange-and-black butterflies come to nest each winter. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Signs From Earth: Heating Up…Melting Down…" September 2004, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 217
Photograph by Cary Wolinsky Tie-dyed fabric is hung to dry from a roof in Jaipur, India. Such Indian textiles are among the richest craft legacies on Earth, encompassing literally thousands of local styles and techniques. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Quest for Color," July 1999, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 216
Photograph by Carsten Peter Afar goat herders use a reed mat to shield their campfire from the steady winds of the Ethiopian Danakil Desert. The Afar are a nomadic people who drive their camels, donkeys, and goats in search of the region's scant pasturelands. Centuries of defending their territory and their herds has made them fierce. One Afar custom, now defunct, declared a man could not marry without first killing an enemy tribesman. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Africa's Danakil Desert: Cruelest Place on Earth," October 2005, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 215
Photograph by Chris Johns Hatchling alligators break free of their shells in Big Cypress Swamp in the Florida Everglades. Babies who have trouble emerging get a surprisingly delicate assist from the tooth-lined jaws of their mother. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Everglades: Dying for Help," April 1994, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 214
Photograph by David McLain The tiny village of Moriusaq stands on the frozen landscape of northwest Greenland. The sea ice near this settlement used to be thick enough to travel and hunt on for hundreds of miles for up to ten months. Recently though, climate change has reduced this crucial window to just a few weeks each year. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Last Days of the Ice Hunters," January 2006, National Geographic magazine) Photo of the Day 213
Paragliders in the Clouds, Mount Fuji, Japan, 2002 Photograph by Karen Kasmauski Paragliders float through the clouds that surround snowcapped Mount Fuji in Japan. At 12,388 feet (3,776 meters), Fuji is Japan's highest peak. But its relatively easy-to-scale flanks draw flocks of amateur climbers to its summit—some 400,000 every year. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Fuji: Japan's Sacred Summit (Except When It's Not)," August 2002, National Geographic magazine)
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