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Visions of Earth 2008

/visions-of-earth/img/divers-whale-shark-350.jpg National Geographic magazine features breathtaking photographs in Visions of Earth. Click on the map to see where in the world the photographers made these images. ]]> View <![CDATA[Credits]]> Art Director: Shawn Greene
Senior Producer: Melissa Wiley
Producer: Glynnis McPhee
Flash Developer: Stefan Estrada
]]> Chaitén /visions-of-earth/img/1108-1-volcano-eruption-645.jpg <![CDATA[November 2008]]> Chile—The fury of Chaitén volcano seems to set the sky on fire. Highly charged particles of pumice roar upward in spreading clouds of gas and smoke, generating crackling tangles of lightning.]]> Solomon Islands /visions-of-earth/img/1108-2-brittle-on-sea-star-645.jpg <![CDATA[November 2008]]> Solomon Islands—Like a pale brooch atop royal velvet, a brittle star—barely as big as a nickel—crawls across the arm of an 18-inch-wide blue sea star. The smaller creature took just seconds to traverse the larger.]]> Orissa /visions-of-earth/img/1108-3-india-baby-cobra-645.jpg <![CDATA[November 2008]]> India—Children of the many snake charmers in the village of Padmakesharpur are no strangers to cobras. Early encounters with defanged or devenomed snakes help the babies grow up fearless.]]> Hornøya Island /visions-of-earth/img/1008-1-puffin-flying-snow-645.jpg <![CDATA[October 2008]]> Norway—Bright beaks and feet signal the breeding season for Atlantic puffins on Hornøya Island. The birds' colors dull for winter. Puffins in summer and winter coloration look so different they were once thought separate species.]]> Malaysian Peninsula /visions-of-earth/img/1008-2-red-flower-malaysia-645.jpg <![CDATA[October 2008]]> Malaysia—Spikes at the center of the Rafflesia kerrii flower may help disperse its odor—the stench of rotting meat—throughout its jungle habitat, attracting the carrion flies that pollinate the platter-size bloom.]]> Western Darfur /visions-of-earth/img/1008-3-woman-sudan-645.jpg <![CDATA[October 2008]]> Sudan—Women walk miles from their West Darfur refugee camp—and risk assault by roving militiamen—to gather wood and grass for fuel. A full sack earns some 50 cents in their camp, home to about 15,000 people.]]> Maldives /visions-of-earth/img/0908-1-divers-whale-shark-645.jpg <![CDATA[September 2008]]> Maldives—A school of snorkelers struggle to keep pace with a whale shark—the world’s biggest fish, which can grow more than 60 feet long. These rare sharks glide along swiftly, exhausting even fit swimmers within minutes.]]> Cerro del Sorte /visions-of-earth/img/0908-1-candles-bodies-645.jpg <![CDATA[September 2008]]> Cerro de Sorte, Venezuela—Surrounded by candles symbolizing regeneration, followers of a cult centered on the local goddess María Lionza wait for cleansing during an hour-long ritual.]]> Kiev /visions-of-earth/img/red-coat-sculpture-645.jpg <![CDATA[September 2008]]> Kiev, Ukraine—Dwarfed by the memory of her nation's past, a woman at the National Museum of History of the Great Patriotic War adjusts her outfit in front of a monument to Soviet soldiers.]]> Tamil Nadu /visions-of-earth/img/0808-1-india-bull-645.jpg <![CDATA[August 2008]]> India—Decorated in pink powder, a bull dives through a crowd of men who hope to hang on to the animal long enough to win a prize. The sport, jallikattu, is part of harvest celebrations in the Tamil Nadu town of Alanganallur.]]> Mount Fitz Roy /visions-of-earth/img/0808-2-argentina-mountain-645.jpg <![CDATA[August 2008]]> Argentina—Moonlight sets mist aglow on the Patagonian peak of Mount Fitz Roy, known to local people as Cerro Chaltén, or "smoking mountain," because its summit is often capped in clouds.]]> Gaza City /visions-of-earth/img/0808-3-lion-truck-645.jpg <![CDATA[August 2008]]> Gaza City—Missing her claws, a few teeth, and the tip of her tail, a lion stolen as a cub from the Gaza Zoo is returned—two years later—in an SUV. Hamas police provide armed escort.]]> Shodo Shima /visions-of-earth/img/0708-1-monkey-group-645.jpg <![CDATA[July 2008]]> Shodo Shima, Japan—Huddled for warmth, macaques press their bodies into a vast ball of fur. The monkeys' relaxed social hierarchy allows high- and low-ranking individuals to share the same tight space.]]> Qatar /visions-of-earth/img/0708-2-cyclists-desert-pipes-645.jpg <![CDATA[July 2008 ]]> Qatar—Tour of Qatar cyclists sprint in a quick burst of color past a pipe storage yard outside Umm Said. The flat desert terrain makes for an easy ride, but headwinds can be punishing.]]> New York /visions-of-earth/img/01-cars-street-graphic-645.jpg <![CDATA[June 2008 ]]> New York City—Secret prize on the urban game board, a miniature garden brightens a Rockefeller Center rooftop seven stories above midtown traffic. Four gardeners labor eight hours a week to keep its lawn and hedges trim.]]> Arctic Ocean /visions-of-earth/img/02-ship-blades-swim-645.jpg <![CDATA[June 2008 ]]> Arctic Ocean—The 22-ton stainless steel propellers on the icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent pause in their work pushing the Canadian vessel through frozen waters—allowing a diver to venture near.]]> Texas /visions-of-earth/img/0608-quincearnera-dresses-645.jpg <![CDATA[June 2008 ]]> Weslaco, Texas—Ruffled, tiaraed, and manicured, twins Vanessa and Veronica Del Toro wait to leave for their quinceañera reception—the 15th—birthday party that, in Latino culture, marks their coming of age.]]> Yunnan /visions-of-earth/img/0508-yunnan-luoping-645.jpg <![CDATA[May 2008 ]]> Yunnan, China—Blooming rapeseed plants weave around hills near Luoping. China grows more of the crop—some 14 million tons in 2006—than any other country; officials hope a biodiesel boom will increase demand even more.]]> /visions-of-earth/img/0508-monastery-yunnan-645.jpg <![CDATA[May 2008]]> Yunnan—The Songzanlin Monastery overlooks the town known until 2001 as Zhongdian, but renamed—to attract more visitors—Shangri-La. Tourists, largely from within China, bring billions of dollars to Yunnan every year.]]> Xinjiang /visions-of-earth/img/0508-desert-china-645.jpg <![CDATA[May 2008 ]]> Xinjiang—A column of dunes could provide geologic data for sand-sampling scientists, whose trucks scratch tracks across the wind-scoured Kumtag Desert.]]> Franklin Island /visions-of-earth/img/0408-penguins-antarctic-645.jpg <![CDATA[April 2008 ]]> Antarctica—Not far from its Franklin Island colony, a lone Adélie punctuates the looping scrawl of penguin tracks across plates of Ross Sea pack ice. Some 2.7 million of the birds populate the Ross Sea region.]]> Germany /visions-of-earth/img/0408-frog-organs-645.jpg <![CDATA[April 2008 ]]> Germany—The see-through skin of an inch-long glass frog reveals her eggs. Native to Venezuela, the frogs lay eggs in bushes and trees overhanging streams. Tadpoles hatch, then tumble into the current to be swept away.]]> Georgia /visions-of-earth/img/0408-redneck-games-645.jpg <![CDATA[April 2008 ]]> United States—A red-clay spray showers spectators at the mud-pit belly flop, highlight of the annual Summer Redneck Games in East Dublin, Georgia. Other events include a hubcap-discus throw and bobbing for pigs' feet.]]> Kenya /visions-of-earth/img/0308-lion-pride-645.jpg <![CDATA[March 2008 ]]> Kenya—Hungry lions in a Masai Mara pride leave little of a wildebeest. "The animals were so involved eating that I was able to drive very close and take a picture standing on my car's roof," says photographer Michel Denis-Huot.]]> Kabul /visions-of-earth/img/0208-car-race-645.jpg <![CDATA[February 2008 ]]> Afghanistan—Good luck and centripetal force help driver Mohammed Jawed keep circling the shuddering wood-plank Wall of Death during his traveling stunt show's stop in Kabul.]]> Sweden /visions-of-earth/img/0208-owl-hunting-645.jpg <![CDATA[February 2008 ]]> Sweden—The facial disk of feathers circling this great gray owl's eyes channel forest-floor sounds back to its ears, helping the bird pounce on a vole and carry it away.]]> Zambia /visions-of-earth/img/0208-africa-waterfall-645.jpg <![CDATA[February 2008 ]]> Zambia—The 355-foot (108 meter) drop of Victoria Falls just inches away, a swimmer stands at the lip of a hidden pool—an eight-foot-deep (two meter) divot in the riverbed rock—accessible only when the Zambezi River runs low.]]> Czech Republic /visions-of-earth/img/0108-carrot-seeds-645.jpg <![CDATA[January 2008 ]]> Czech Republic—It takes a microscope to make a handful of carrot seeds look like a swarm of bristling space invaders. There are about 450,000 of these Daucus carota seeds in a single pound.]]> Caspian Sea /visions-of-earth/img/0108-caspian-sea-645.jpg <![CDATA[January 2008 ]]> Azerbaijan—The carcass of an abandoned amusement park ride is a diving platform for teens on a Caspian Sea beach near Baku. Despite the nation's oil and gas boom, almost half of Azerbaijanis live in poverty.]]> Pretoria /visions-of-earth/img/1208-1-snake-face-645.jpg <![CDATA[December 2008 ]]> South Africa—Green tree pythons coil when comfortable. Though this snake is a pet in Pretoria, the species is native to northern Australia and New Guinea. In the wild its coloration lends cover for a life spent mostly in trees. ]]> Bhutan /visions-of-earth/img/1208-2-young-monks-running-645.jpg <![CDATA[December 2008 ]]> Bhutan—Novices at the Dechen Phodrang monastic school in Thimphu hear the dinner bell and come running. More than 400 boys attend the academy, where a typical day of study stretches from 5 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.]]> Narsaq /visions-of-earth/img/1208-3-houses-iceberg-645.jpg <![CDATA[December 2008 ]]> Greenland—An iceberg reveals a glimpse of the southern Greenland town of Narsaq. A nearby glacier births a steady supply of bergs that jostle off the settlement's shores year-round.]]> California /visions-of-earth/img/0308-wind-turbines-645.jpg <![CDATA[March 2008 ]]> California—More than 3,000 wind turbines bristle across the hills of the Tehachapi-Mojave Wind Resource Area, generating enough electricity to serve a quarter million homes each year.]]> /visions-of-earth/img/0308-kayak-california-645.jpg <![CDATA[March 2008]]> California—As his mother scatters his ashes from a lifeguard boat, friends of Emery Kauanui, Jr., gather in a memorial paddle-out off La Jolla's Windansea Beach on June 9, 2007. The pro surfer, 24, died the previous month.]]> Gulf of Aqaba /visions-of-earth/img/0708-3-fish-school-645.jpg <![CDATA[July 2008 ]]> Gulf of Aqaba—Surrounded by thousands of golden sweepers, photographer Magnus Lundgren spun his camera to capture this shifting school off Elat, Israel. After 200 tries he got it: a whirlpool of four-inch fish.]]>