2015 nature picture highlights
During the course of my reporting in 2015 I took nearly 20,000 photos. Here are some of the highlights. [envira-gallery id=”2277″] [envira-gallery slug=”2015-highlights”]
Photos from a few days in the Canadian Rockies
Over the Fourth of July weekend, I spent a few days in Alberta’s Banff National Park. The photos are now online on the Canada pictures page. A few more:
Photos from China’s tropical rainforest
In August I did a lecture series at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in China’s Yunnan Province. The series focused on communicating science to the public, leveraging the Internet for environmental education, and drivers of deforestation. On the trip I spent some time in Yunnan’s spectacular tropical rainforest. Pictures from the trip are now online. More China...
Gigantic Amazon stick insect (photo)
A gigantic stick insect in the Peruvian Amazon More photos of stick insects.
Portrait of a Turkana woman (photo)
A Turkana woman in Northern Kenya in 2007 More photos of the Turkana people.
Orphaned orangutan (photo)
Baby orangutan orphaned by the palm oil industry when its forest habitat was cleared for a plantation in Sumatra. More orangutan photos.
Desert sand scape at dusk in Namibia (photo)
Desert sand scape at dusk in Namibia. More desert photos.
Ankarana sportive lemur (photo)
Ankarana sportive lemur in Ankarana National Park, Madagascar. A number of lemur species are threatened by logging in Northeastern Madagascar. The majority of lemurs are considered at risk of extinction. More lemur photos.
Plains zebra in South Africa (photo)
Herd of plains zebra in a private reserve near Kruger National Park, South Africa. More zebra photos.
Jaguar (photo)
Peru’s newest national park, Sierra del Divisor, provides habitat for jaguar, along with more than 30 other species of large mammal.
Giant monkey frog (photo)
The giant monkey frog of Peru is known for its mind-altering skin secretions. Shamans in the Amazon rainforest use this species in hunting rituals. This frog lives in the newly created Sierra del Divisor National Park in Peru.
Jaguarundi in Costa Rica (photo)
The jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi) is a small cat that lives in a variety of ecosystems across to Central and South America.
Turquoise river in the rainforest (photo)
River carrying glacier runoff in Washington State’s Olympic National Park. More photos of the Olympic Peninsula.
Misty rainforest in Sumatra (photo)
Indonesia’s Bukit Tigapuluh National Park is one of the last strongholds of lowland tropical rainforest in Sumatra. Most of the island’s lowland forests have been destroyed for palm oil, timber, and agriculture. More pictures from Sumatra.
Glow-in-the-dark mushrooms (photo)
Glowing mushrooms near the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysia. This particular fungi is likely a species of Mycena, more than 30 types of which are known to be bioluminescent. More pictures of fungi in Malaysia.
White sand beach in Madagascar (photo)
Beach near Tampolo Marine Reserve on the Masoala Peninsula in Madagascar. More photos from beaches in Madagascar.
A bright orange bird (photos)
The Andean Cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus) is known for its elaborate courtship behavior. These male cock-of-the-rocks were photographed at a communal lek, where males gather to challenge each other and attract females, in Peru. More pictures of cock-of-the-rocks.
A strange lemur for Halloween (photo)
The aye-aye is one of the world’s strangest animals. Found only in Madagascar, this lemur aye-aye befuddled early naturalists with its unusual appearance and behavior. More pictures of the aye-aye.
