With a growing network of marine protected areas, a new generation of South Africans like nine-year-old Laila Ntlantlu will hopefully see a return of the country’s iconic reef fishes to healthy numbers.
A Cape fur seal regulates its body temperature in the cool Atlantic waters off the Cape Peninsula by floating upside down with one of its highly vascularized flippers sticking out of the water to catch the warmth of the sun. Photographed at Duiker Island off Hout Bay, South Africa.
Thiérache, France
Aerial view over the wild coastline of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A misty morning view over the Amani Nature Reserve in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. Villages intersperse the protected areas of the reserve.
Clasping a songbird, a female Montagu's harrier prepares to land at her nest to feed her chicks. Groningen, the Netherlands.
A Cape fur seal swims over a kelp bed at Duiker Island off Hout Bay, South Africa.
Bluebells carpet the forest floor. Thiérache, France.
Hottentot seabream swim by fronds of split-fan kelp in Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area, False Bay, South Africa.
Aerial view over the Oise river valley in Thiérache, France.
Dogs with helicopter on the airstrip of El Aguacate military airbase, Honduras.
Burning candles is one of the rituals performed by Tanzanian treasure hunters to appease ghosts that are believed to guard over German treasures.
Chyulus, Kenya
The barn swallow has adapted to nesting in the artificial caves we put up around the world in the shape of bridges, farmsteads and other constructions, making it the most widespread and abundant of all swallows. This bird returns year after year to breed in the same old cowshed. Thiérache, France.
An inquisitive Cape fur seal enters a forest of sea bamboo at Duiker Island off Hout Bay, South Africa.
Some forty white stork and hundreds of herring gulls circle over a wheat field that has just been harvested. They roost in large numbers at a nearby landfill. Thiérache, France.
African bush elephants at night in the Chyulus, Kenya.
Friesland, the Netherlands
Barcelona skyline with Sagrada Família
Christmas 2016
Leader of a local group of treasure hunters in Tanzania.
A roman caught near Cape Point. Because roman are born female and change sex later in life, intensive fishing skews their sex ratio, hurting a population’s ability to bounce back.
False clown anemonefish in carpet sea anemone. Ternate, Indonesia.
This Filoboletus fungus is thought to glow in the dark to attract insects that help it disperse its spores. Mycologist Luis Morgado studies it in the light of a red torch, allowing his eyes to remain adjusted to the dark. Crocker Range, Borneo.
Tamil Nadu, India
Thiérache, France
Black kites dot the sky as the sun sets over Bombay's busy streets.
A misty morning view over the Amani Nature Reserve in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. Villages intersperse the protected areas of the reserve.
A Hottentot seabream seeks shelter amid kelp fronds. Hottentot seabream are among dozens of species found only on the Southern African coastline and nowhere else in the world.
Porcelain crab in carpet sea anemone
Ternate, Indonesia
A female smooth newt sinks back to the bottom of a pond after coming up for air. The Netherlands.