Photo of the Day 247

Praying Mantis, Southeast Asia, 2001

Photograph by Tim Laman

This extreme close-up shows the business end of a praying mantis, one of the insect world's most formidable predators. Mantids have two large compound eyes and three other simple eyes located between them. Some species can see movement up to 60 feet (18 meters) away.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Night Shift in the Rain Forest," October 2001, National Geographic magazine)

Photo of the Day 71

Striped Cricket on Leaf, Southeast Asia, 2001

Photograph by Timothy Laman

Stripes meet stars in this night shot of a cricket in a Southeast Asian forest. In jungles throughout the world, the sinking sun summons a menagerie of rarely seen creatures that slither, leap, and buzz while the forest's more familiar creatures sleep.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Night Shift in the Rain Forest," October 2001, National Geographic magazine)