March 1, 2004

    
  Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
  1997
  Joel Sartore

A lone red fox picks through the snow in Yellowstone National Park. Unlike the pack-forming gray wolves in the park, red foxes are solitary and occupy home ranges that may be shared with only one or two members of the opposite sex.

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Return of the Gray Wolf," May 1998, National Geographic magazine)

March 2, 2004

    
  North Dakota, United States
  Early 1900s
  Edward S. Curtis

Portrait of Spotted Bull, a member of the Mandan Indian tribe. His tribe was unusual for its sedentarism. Plains tribes were commonly nomadic.

March 3, 2004

　　　　
　　Off Kaikoura Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand
　　1997
　　Maria Stenzel

Whale-watching tours operate off the Kaikoura Peninsula. These are attractive waters for cetaceans because of the bounty of prey found in the Kaikoura Canyon.

Tour operators are able to identify one of the sperm whales that frequents the canyon because of its extensive scarring from skirmishes with its prey, the giant squid.

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Deep Mysteries of Kaikoura Canyon," June 1998, National Geographic magazine)

March 4, 2004

    
  Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
  1999
  Len Jenshel

"A pretty poison, woolly locoweed, flowering during autumn, can make cattle that eat its toxic leaves go berserk and die."

From "Celebrating Canyon Country," July 1999, National Geographic magazine

March 5, 2004

    
  South of the Gulf of Ob, Siberia, Russia
  1996
  Maria Stenzel

"Women's work in the Nenets' nomad culture includes the assembly and disassembly of the family chum, a tent made of larch poles and reindeer skins."

—From "Nenets: Surviving on the Siberian Tundra," March 1998, National Geographic magazine

March 6, 2004

     
  Siberia, Russia
  2001
  Mark Thiessen

"A stick in time: After quickly turning a sapling into a shovel handle, one firefighter attacks with sand while another beats the flame with birch branches. If smokejumpers kill a fire quickly, it adds a bonus to their monthly hundred-dollar pay."
—From "Russian Smokejumpers," August 2002, National Geographic magazine

March 7, 2004

    
  Sarawak state, Borneo, Malaysia
  1998
  Maria Stenzel

A Penan family builds a traditional temporary shelter from palm fronds, saplings, and rattan. A lamin takes only about an hour to build, but lasts a month.

(Text adapted from "Vanishing Cultures," August 1999, National Geographic magazine)

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Vanishing Cultures," August 1999, National Geographic magazine)

March 8, 2004
Unknown location, United States
  1992
  Maria Stenzel

"Tiny titan of U.S. agriculture, a foraging honeybee flies as far as four miles [six kilometers] from its hive to find food梚n this case, chicory pollen梱et usually visits only one type of flower during a single sortie. This floral fidelity helps make bees ideal crop pollinators. As the bee gathers food for the hive, the pollen grains that cling to its hairy body will rub off at each flower to produce a seed, fruit, or vegetable."

桭rom "America's Beekeepers: Hives for Hire," May 1993, National Geographic magazine
Get a free Member's Edition of National Geographic's 100 Best Pictures?a href="https://secure.customersvc.com/servlet/Show?WESPAGE=ng/ng121703/joinin.html&MSRSMAG=NG&MSCCAMLX=ROS14&c=Photography&n=NGM_POD_LeftCaption&t=internal" target="_new" class="more">order National Geographic magazine now

March 9, 2004
    
  Adirondack State Park, New York
  1996
  Maria Stenzel

"Rolling across nearly six million acres [nearly two and a half million hectares] in upstate New York, the Adirondacks—mountains and state park—seduce not with a shout but with a wildness that often speaks no louder than a whisper."

—From "Adirondack High," June 1998, National Geographic magazine

March 10, 2004
    
  South Georgia island, Falkland Islands
  1998
  Maria Stenzel

Though covered in a coat of thick, soft, brown feathers, a juvenile king penguin must wait to enter the water until the age of ten months, when its first set of waterproof, adult feathers begins to grow in. Until then, chicks are entirely dependent on their parents for food.

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Shackleton: Epic of Survival," November 1998, National Geographic magazine)

March 11, 2004

    
  Okavango Delta, Botswana
  1999
  Chris Johns

揃loodstained from its last meal, a cub shows features of a hunter built for speed. During sprints, a membrane shields eyes while large nostrils allow for rapid oxygen intake. Dark 憈earstains?may block glare.?

—From 揅heetahs: Ghosts of the Grasslands,?December 1999, National Geographic magazine

March 12, 2004

    
  Siberia, Russia
  1996
  Maria Stenzel

Though archaeological evidence points to the beginnings of caribou domestication at 2,000 years ago, the Nenets' tradition of mass herding is no more than 400 years old.
As the Russian Empire expanded eastward from Moscow, other native peoples encroached on the Nenets' caribou hunting grounds in their flight. The Nenets coped by switching to caribou herding, which allowed them to escape the population influx and move northward with their livelihood intact.

(Text adapted from "Nenets: Surviving on the Siberian Tundra," March 1998, National Geographic magazine)

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Nenets: Surviving on the Siberian Tundra," March 1998, National Geographic magazine)

March 13, 2004

    
  South Georgia island, Falkland Islands
  1998
  Maria Stenzel

Fortuna Bay sits between craggy peaks and glaciers on South Georgia. In 1916 Ernest Shackleton and his men trekked by this stretch of water toward the island's whaling stations, where they found salvation after being stranded in Antarctica for nearly two years.

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Shackleton: Epic of Survival," November 1998, National Geographic magazine)

March 14, 2004

    
  Mount Colden, Adirondack Mountains, New York
  1996
  Maria Stenzel

Fog envelops the southern Adirondacks at sunrise.

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Adirondack High," June 1998, National Geographic magazine)

March 15, 2004

    
  Bolivia, South America
  1998
  Maria Stenzel

"[Chipaya Indians] Santiago and Emiliana Condori graze sheep on patches of sparse grass to produce wool for clothes and blankets."

—From "Vanishing Cultures," August 1999, National Geographic magazine

March 16, 2004

    
  Near the Columbia River, Oregon
  1992
  Maria Stenzel

Bushels of ripe cherries spring forth from trees pollinated by honeybees. Beekeepers must find prime locations to place their teeming hives to ensure that their charges get enough food to produce honey. Orchards and farms are prime targets. The beekeeping and farming businesses alike benefit from this placement: The insects have instant access to flowering food, and the orchards get a healthy dose of pollination.

Photo and adapted text from "America's Beekeepers: Hives for Hire," May 1993, National Geographic magazine

March 17, 2004

    
  Korr, Marsabit District, Kenya, Africa
  1998
  Maria Stenzel

Western relief agencies' boxes and sacks sheath a traditional Rendille shelter in a Kenyan town. In the 1970s the camel-herding Rendille tribe began feeling pressures from the United Nations and the Kenyan government to settle and enter a cash economy. In the wake of severe drought and famine, thousands of Rendille flocked to relief camps and became largely dependent upon mission agency handouts.

(Text adapted from "Vanishing Cultures," August 1999, National Geographic magazine)

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Vanishing Cultures," August 1999, National Geographic magazine)

March 18, 2004

    
  Yazd, Iran
  1999
  Alexandra Avakian

Marco Polo called it the 慻ood and noble?city of Yazd, an ancient town where desert architects learned to cool buildings and even make ice by harnessing the wind. A 14th-century mosque still dominates Yazd抯 oldest quarter.?

—From "Iran: Testing the Waters of Reform," July 1999, National Geographic magazine

March 19, 2004
Simen Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, Africa
  2002
  Michael Nichols

"They swarm the plateau, sometimes 800 strong, in family units averaging four females per male, plus young. ... 'It's a constant battle over sex, space, or a juicy patch of grass,' says [biologist Chadden] Hunter. Male spats [pictured] are mostly brief cheek-puffing, teeth-grinding rituals. ... "
—From "Kings of the Hill?," November 2002, National Geographic magazine

March 20, 2004

    
  Siberia, Russia
  2001
  Mark Thiessen

"With budgets tight and boots loose, [for Russian smokejumpers] rags stand in for socks and saplings double as tent poles. 'Ten years ago we had more guys, but the equipment was bad,' says one veteran smokejumper. 'Now we have fewer guys, and the equipment is still bad!'"
—From "Russian Smokejumpers," August 2002, National Geographic magazine

March 21, 2004

    
  Nablus, West Bank, Israel
  1952
  John Scofield

"To shelter Palestinian refugees after Israel's 1948 War of Independence, the UN and volunteer agencies raised a tent city near Nablus. Six decades later the refugees remain."
—From "Lines in the Sand: Deadly Times in the West Bank and Gaza," October 2002, National Geographic magazine

March 22, 2004

    
  Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
  1997
  Joel Sartore

Bison dot a Yellowstone snowscape, some sweeping the drifts aside with their heads to uncover vegetation. A thick mantle of hair over their forequarters and heads and a heavy coat over their hindquarters allow bison to keep warm in harsh winter temperatures.

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Return of the Gray Wolf," May 1998, National Geographic magazine)

March 23, 2004

    
  Island of Gor閑, Senegal
  1974
  Gordon Gahan

"Dungeon-like slave quarters remind visitors of a dark history when ships hauled human cargo from the Island of Gor閑."
—From "Saving Places," October 2002, National Geographic magazine

March 24, 2004

    
  Kaikoura Canyon, New Zealand
  1997
  Maria Stenzel

Just off the Kaikoura Peninsula, the ocean floor gives way to "an undersea canyon where currents mix and well up, producing a broth rich in nutrients. Drawn to the food are creatures great and small, from [these] tiny krill to the apex predator[s] ... the sperm whale and the giant squid."

(Text adapted from "Deep Mysteries of Kaikoura Canyon," June 1998, National Geographic magazine)

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Deep Mysteries of Kaikoura Canyon," June 1998, National Geographic magazine)

March 25, 2004

    
  Manicaragua, Cuba
  1999
  David Alan Harvey

揟hough they rarely have new wire to mend a fence, tobacco farmers in Manicaragua live better than many city dwellers. A horse takes them on errands, and a kitchen garden helps keep them well fed.?

—From "Cuba—Evolution in the Revolution," June 1999, National Geographic magazine

March 26, 2004

    
  Montana, United States
  2001
  Chris Johns

"Sacagawea slept here, along the Missouri River near Montana's White Cliffs. From April 1805 to August 1806, the Native American teen traveled with Lewis and Clark on their landmark journey west and achieved enduring fame. Yet no one knows what she looked like; no words of hers remain."
—From "Searching for Sacagawea," February 2003, National Geographic magazine

March 27, 2004

    
  Columbia River, Washington State, U.S.
  Early 1900s
  Edward S. Curtis

A Wisham Indian uses a "dip net" to fish.

March 28, 2004

    
  Adirondack Mountains, New York
  1996
  Maria Stenzel

A private boathouse serves as a portal onto a picturesque Adirondack lake.

—Text adapted from "Adirondack High," June 1998, National Geographic magazine

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Adirondack High," June 1998, National Geographic magazine)

March 29, 2004

    
  Marsabit District, Kenya, Africa
  1998
  Maria Stenzel

Moon high over a distant peak, the dunes of a Marsabit District desert roll under the harsh sun.

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Vanishing Cultures," August 1999, National Geographic magazine)

March 30, 2004

    
  Siberia, Russia
  2001
  Mark Thiessen

"Sunlit smoke whispers the firefighter's secret: Life can be beautiful even when the world burns down around you. As fire crackles through a forest's understory, clearing brush and preparing the ground for new life, it's hard for even a sworn adversary not to respect its role in the ecosystem. 'Fires are natural,' one smokejumper says, 'but it's our job to fight them.'"
—From "Russian Smokejumpers," August 2002, National Geographic magazine