You’ve tried snapping artsy pictures on your iPhone, but even your best Instagrams fall short compared to these world-class shots.
Blast Furnace
It’s been in constant eruption since 1983, but Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano doesn’t always look like a lava lamp come to life. On this dark night, hot magma flowed into the sea before waves tossed it 100 feet up in the air.
The Disappearing Fish
Look closely and you’ll notice not one but two schools of fish. As masters of camouflage, lookdown fish (above) reflect light off their scales to trick both predators and prey.
Golden Relic
Living high up in India’s treetops, Gee’s golden langurs already elude photographers, but their endangered status makes the monkeys even harder to spot.
Playing Pangolin
After a pride of lions discovered a Temminck’s ground pangolin, the felines decided to roll the plated mammal around “like a soccer ball.” Luckily its armor-like scales protect against the big cats’ claws.
Swarming Under the Stars
Thousands of mayflies cloud a Hungarian sunset as they race to lay their eggs. Their frantic rush is crucial because the adult insects die after only a few hours.
Splitting the Catch
Fishermen often follow whales to locate schools of fish, but the clever mammals have recently turned the tables. Humpbacks and orcas will hone in on a boat’s distinctive sounds and eat the herring that escape its nets.
Crystal Precision
To rest up for its nightly hunt, a pipistrelle bat roosts in a run-down house. The photographer centered this shot on a broken window and caught the bat’s exit head-on.
Thistle-plucker
Spotted in Bulgaria’s Rila Mountains, a flying linnet snacks on a thistle. The tiny bird pulls out the flower’s seeds and quickly separates them from the attached “parachutes.”
Nosy Neighbour
In the British city of Bristol, foxes roam the streets unchecked. This urban cub didn’t mind making a new human friend.
Collective Courtship
Since males outnumber females 11 to one, cuttlefish compete every spawning season in South Australia. Here, three rejected suitors watch a new couple’s connection.
Termite Tossing
That big beak actually functions like a precise pair of tweezers. A yellow-billed hornbill snatches bugs off the South African scrub by flicking them back into its mouth.
