A story in the November 2017 issue documented new discoveries about pterosaurs. In this photo, a life-sized model of a Quetzalcoatlus northropi, which lived in the Late Cretaceous Period, gets a coat of paint in a Minnesota studio.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT CLARK, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
This photo of boats in the Golden Horn inlet appeared in a June 1922 story called "Constantinople Today." Once the seat of the Ottoman Empire, the city was renamed Istanbul in 1930.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SOLITA SOLANO, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
In Pakistan's Hunza Valley, all-girl soccer teams from surrounding villages walk onto the field for a tournament. This picture appeared in an online story called "The rising voices of women in Pakistan" in February 2019.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SARA HYLTON, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Resting in his bunk on the U.S.S. Paul Hamilton, a sailor wears light-emitting goggles for a short time after waking. When this photo was published in an August 2018 story about sleep, scientist Nita Shattuck was testing the goggles to see if they could reset sailors' internal clocks.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MAGNUS WENNMAN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A non-binary Ugandan refugee stands outside the safe house they founded for LGBT refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. This previously unpublished portrait was taken as part of photographer Nichole Sobecki's work on how the coronavirus was affecting Kenya in 2020.
PHOTOGRAPH BY NICHOLE SOBECKI, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A group of jellyfish known as Atlantic sea nettle swims at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Jellyfish have been in existence for more than 500 million years.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SISSE BRIMBERG, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A Buddhist pilgrim climbs to sacred Mount Kawagebo in Yunnan, China, between rows of prayer flags. Her journey to circle the mountain will take nearly two weeks.
PHOTOGRAPH BY FRITZ HOFFMAN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Sunlight and clear waters make for beautiful and healthy coral reefs off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea. A story in the March 2012 issue documented efforts to celebrate and preserve the seas of Arabia.
PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A story in the February 1940 issue documented the production of and many uses for rubber. Here, a factory worker in Ravenna, Ohio, stamps a Mickey Mouse face on balloons.
PHOTOGRAPH BY WILLARD CULVER, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A beekeeper in Ames, Iowa, sprays smoke to calm bees while working among a crop of sunflowers. This photo was taken as a part of a story on the preservation of heirloom seeds in the July 2011 issue.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JIM RICHARDSON, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Father and son fishermen pull in a catch using a large net early in the morning on the Yangtze River in Wushan, China. The Yangtze is the third-longest river in the world, stretching more than 3,900 miles across China.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANASTASIA TAYLOR-LIND, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A photo essay in the April 2017 issue displayed miniature models of what the world might look like after humans are gone, constructed and photographed by artists Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber. This model is of an overgrown botanical garden.
PHOTOGRAPH BY LORI NIX AND KATHLEEN GERBER, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
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.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Museum workers at the Louvre take the "Mona Lisa" for its annual inspection. When this photo was published in the June 1971 issue, the museum was preparing to double the number of exhibits on display.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRUCE DALE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A photographer swims next to an American crocodile in Gardens of the Queen, a marine reserve in Cuba. This previously unpublished photo was taken as a part of coverage for a November 2016 story on the reserve.
PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID DOUBILET, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A story in the June 1995 issue documented the recovery of sea otter populations after the fur trade nearly hunted them to extinction. Here, three orphaned otters float together at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SISSE BRIMBERG, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Kids jump rope on Fourth Street Northwest in Washington, D.C. This photo appeared in a January 1983 issue about the daily life and culture of the U.S. capital city.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM WOOLFITT, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A family sets up camp alongside rhododendron plants on Roan Mountain, Tennessee. This photo appeared in a June 1957 story dedicated to the Roan Mountain rhododendrons, flowers famous enough to earn their own annual festival.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT SISSON, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION