Special Photography/NAT GEO Photo of the Month, October 2011

Oceanic Whitetip Shark, Bahamas

Photograph by Brian Skerry, National Geographic
An oceanic whitetip shark and diver in the Bahamas.

Ivanhoe Reservoir, Los Angeles

Photograph by Gerd Ludwig, National Geographic
In 2007, high levels of bromate—a carcinogen formed when bromide and chlorine react with sunlight—were found in Los Angeles’s Ivanhoe Reservoir. Today three million black plastic balls help deflect UV rays.

Seahorse, Honduras

Photograph by Marc Mistersaro, My Shot
Snorkeling under a nightclub in Roatán, Honduras, the photographer caught this ethereal image of a seahorse. Great snorkeling and scuba diving while surrounded by rich coral reefs attracts visitors here to the largest of Honduras’s Bay Islands.

Stratus Clouds, Greenland

Photograph by Bryan and Cherry Alexander, Arctic Photo
Eight hundred miles south of the North Pole, stalactite-like stratus clouds—churned by 90-mile-an-hour winds—and the light of a bruised dawn paint an apocalyptic portrait over Inglefield Bay.

Lemon Shark, Bahamas

Photograph by Brian Skerry, National Geographic
A lemon shark pup swims among mangrove roots in the Bahamas. Throughout the more than 700 islands there are mangrove nurseries, coral reefs, and deep oceanic trenches, all perfect habitats for a wide variety of shark species.

Walrus Skull, Bristol Bay

Photograph by Michael Melford, National Geographic
A walrus skull sits alone in a field of wildflowers. Each spring thousands of walruses return to the Walrus Islands in northern Bristol Bay to feed, rest, and sometimes die.

Manatee, Florida

Photograph by Brian Skerry, National Geographic
A manatee swims in a freshwater spring in Crystal River, Florida. Manatees struggle for survival as the result of a gantlet of threats, from watercraft strikes to toxins in the water. The most serious threat, however, is the loss of warm water due to habitat loss.

Sand Dune, Namibia

Photograph by Brynn Bayman, My Shot
It doesn’t take much to get rolling down a Namibian dune. These students on a geographical field trip find the slope irresistible but end up with sand in every nook and cranny.

Gray Wolves, Minnesota

Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Geographic
Members of the Ambassador Wolf Pack of the International Wolf Center bite and tussle in the snow. The center aims to educate the public about wolves, confident that as human appreciation of the species grows, so too will the wolf’s chances of survival.

American Alligator Claw

Photograph by Richard T. Bryant
Though tipped with nightmare claws, the limbs of American alligators—this one photographed at a local park—are more often used to excavate wallowing holes than to slash at prey.
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