National Geographic Photo of the Day - January 2009 Part 3

January 15, 2009

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)

January 14, 2009

Oil Refinery, Ras Tanurah, Saudi Arabia

Photograph by Thomas J. Abercrombie

Gas flares fire the night at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanurah refinery, north of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Each day sparkling towers here produce more than half a million barrels of refined petroleum, the largest output of any refinery in the Middle East.
(Photo shot on assignment for "Saudi Arabia—Beyond the Sands of Mecca," January 1966, National Geographic magazine)

 

January 13, 2009

Fire-Walking Ceremony, Viti Levu Island, Republic of Fiji

Photograph by James L. Stanfield

The body is transcended and the soul is made pure by mortification of the flesh—including piercings with these needles—in the annual Hindu fire-walking ceremony on Viti Levu Island in Fiji. Fire walkers prepare with fasting, prayer, and bathing in the ocean. At their temple, they may walk over hot coals several times in thanks for blessings of health and long life from the fire goddess Draupathi.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Two Worlds of Fiji," October 1995, National Geographic magazine)

January 12, 2009

Mandrill, Central Africa

Photograph by Michael Nichols

A mandrill, tethered on a rope in central Africa, reaches for the camera. These colorful primates are threatened. They are often hunted as bushmeat, and many Africans consider them to be a delicacy. Mandrills are feeling the squeeze of spreading agriculture and human settlement—both are shrinking their rain forest homeland.
(Photo shot on assignment for "Clearing," March 2001, National Geographic magazine)

January 11, 2009

Shrimp Hiding in Sand, Florida

Photograph by Robert F. Sisson

Shunning light, a pink shrimp buries itself in aquarium sand except for its feelers and golf-ball eyes. To avoid predators, they'll burrow even deeper, leaving only a tiny hole for breathing.
(Photo shot on assignment for "Shrimp Nursery—Science Explores New Ways to Farm the Sea," May 1965, National Geographic magazine)