Photo of the Day 472

Lion in Tree, Zambezi River, Zambia

Photograph by Chris Johns

A female lion claims her spot in a tree near the Zambezi River in Zambia. Female lions are the primary hunters in each family group, or pride. They often work together to prey upon antelopes, zebras, wildebeests, and other large animals of the open grasslands. Many of these animals are faster than lions, so teamwork pays off.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Down the Zambezi,” October 1997, National Geographic magazine)

Photo of the Day 72

Fruit Bats at Dusk, Zambia, 2007

Photograph by Frans Lanting

Epauletted fruit bats speckle a saffron-colored sky at sunset in Zambia's Luangwa Valley. Millions of these bats come to roost in the valley's trees and feed off the explosion of fruits during the rainy season, when the Luangwa River overflows its banks and transforms the dry, dusty landscape into an emerald wildlife paradise.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Waiting for Thunder," May 2007, National Geographic magazine)