Legendary French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau examines a school of fish swimming past coral in the Indian Ocean. Together, Cousteau and photographer Marden pioneered the field of ocean exploration and photography. In 1956, Marden accompanied the legendary ocean explorer on a voyage from Toulon, France, to the Suez Canal aboard Cousteau's ship, Calypso. By journey’s end, Marden had 1,200 photographs, the largest collection of underwater color photographs ever taken.
Sunlight reflected through water ripples illuminates a sperm whale
摄影:Brian J. Skerry
Sperm whales' heads are filled with a mysterious substance called spermaceti. Scientists have yet to understand its function, but believe it may help the animal regulate its buoyancy.
Spider monkeys, like this young one seemingly caught by surprise in Bolivia's Madidi National Park, are dependent on their mothers for about ten weeks after birth.
Some studies estimate that ants make up an amazing 30 percent of the total biomass of Earth's tropical rain forests, far exceeding that of mammals. Here, two leafcutter ants dismantle a leaf in Peru's Manu National Forest.
Soul and muscle of their island, fishermen haul a net stretched between pitching dories. Home port for these men is Canada’s eastern outpost—a rugged bulwark thrust into the North Atlantic.
From the upcoming National Geographic book The Image Collection, due fall 2009. Shop for other photography books from National Geographic.
White-faced capuchin monkeys play in trees, Costa Rica
摄影:Wolfgang Kaehler/Alamy
Baby white-faced capuchin monkeys play in a Costa Rican rain forest. Unlike these familiar faces, the majority of rain forest species are yet to be named, formally described, or analyzed.
Red-eyed tree frogs, like this one found in a rain forest in Panama, eat mainly insects. Good thing. Rain forests have more insect species than any other ecosystem.
"Sundered faiths rejoin amid the lantern lights of children in Erfurt, East Germany, where [Martin] Luther studied and was ordained a priest in the cathedral, at left. Annually on November 10, his birthday, Protestants and Catholics gather here to honor both him and the Catholic St. Martin, whose name the infant was given on the saint feast day, November 11."
Text and photograph from "The World of Luther," October 1983, National Geographic magazine