Photographer Page

Joël Sartore

Lightning flashes over a butte in Adobe Town, Wyoming. This photo appeared in a July 2005 story about the battle over natural gas drilling in the Rockies.

At the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa, a young visitor watches fish swim through the kelp forest exhibit. In the wild, South Africa's kelp forests are home to fish not found anywhere else in the world.

A captive Egyptian cobra, photographed in Texas by Joel Sartore, as part of his National Geographic Photo Ark project. This large snake carries a neurotoxin and cytotoxin, and was implicated in classical sources as the creature used in Cleopatra's suicide.

Western banded geckos have a very specific strategy for killing venomous scorpions.

King cobras (pictured, an animal at the Houston Zoo) are shy and usually avoid people.

The fur of the red panda is typically a russett red, with a similar face 'mask' to the raccoon and a facial colouration ranging from pale (typically in the west) to deep red (in the east.)

A six-month old red panda, shot by Joel Sartore for National Geographic's Photo Ark project, which aims to document every species of animal living in captivity around the world.

Some squid, such as the Atlantic brief squid (pictured above at Gulf Specimen Marine Lab and Aquarium) have blue blood because it contains the metal copper.

Alligator gars have a wide range that includes Central America and Cuba.

During breeding season, male black-necked swans (Cygnus melancoryphus) use their wings to beat away any would-be suitors. After the eggs hatch, dad also watches over the fledglings while mom goes out to grab food for herself. Photographed at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Nebraska, U.S.