The image above featured in an article about green sea turtles that National Geographic ran in September this year. It was snapped by Thomas Pepschak and is one of the many incredible photos to grace the pages of the magazine, and the website, throughout the course of the year.

As the year winds to a close, Nat Geo wanted to recognise some of the stellar photojournalists that bring life to their features.

This year they noticed a theme in their photojournalism: animals, as they’re affected by us.

“What is really striking this year is that we really made a shift from natural history storytelling to conservation storytelling,” says Kathy Moran, National Geographic’s deputy director of photography. “When you look at wildlife through that lens, you cannot take people out of the equation.”

Here are our favourites from their pick of the best photos in 2019:

From “Poaching is sending the shy, elusive pangolin to its doom”, June 2019.

At the Tikki Hywood Foundation in Zimbabwe, each rescued pangolin—like Tamuda, seen here—is assigned a caretaker. The pangolins bond with their humans, who help them learn how to feed on ants and termites. Rescued as a baby from poachers, Tamuda was stubborn and impish, his caretaker says.

From “Inside the harsh lives of wolves living at the top of the world”, August 2019.

Wolves pick at the remains of a muskox. To get this image, photographer Ronan Donovan placed a camera trap inside the carcass. The pack returned to feed on and off for a month.

From “Go underwater into the overlooked world of freshwater animals”, January 2019.

This giant salamander, known as a hellbender, hopes to make a northern water snake its next meal. Photographer David Herasimtschuk says this image may be the first of a hellbender attempting to eat a snake.

From “Captive tigers in the U.S. outnumber those in the wild. It’s a problem”, November 2019.

Clay, Daniel, and Enzo, three of 39 tigers rescued from an animal park in Oklahoma, gather at a pool at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado. These cats will live out their lives here, with proper nutrition and vet care.

From “A bold plan to save Africa’s shrinking giraffe herds”, September 2019.

An orphaned giraffe nuzzles a caregiver at Sarara Camp in northern Kenya. Samburu cattle herders found the abandoned calf and alerted Sarara—known for raising orphaned mammals and returning them to their habitat. The young giraffe now lives with a wild herd.

From “Inside the harsh lives of wolves living at the top of the world”, August 2019.

Muskoxen are one of the few prey animals that can work together to form a defensive line to protect the herd’s calves and counter wolf attacks.

From “Go underwater into the overlooked world of freshwater animals”, January 2019.

Every winter, rough-skinned newts visit the same pond in Oregon’s Willamette River to mate. Eight years and thousands of photographs later, David Herasimtschuk finally captured “the perfect newt image.”

From “Blood-squirting insects and more tiny creatures flourish in African park”, April 2019.

A predatory katydid rears back in a threatening display in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park.

From “Planned roads could imperil Florida’s panthers—and last remaining wilderness”, August 2019.

A male panther jumps over a creek in Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. A panther would visit this camera trap site approximately once a month. Because panthers are mostly nocturnal, it took nearly two years of camera trapping to capture this daylight image.

From “Sea turtles are surviving—despite us”, September 2019.

Once or twice a month during Costa Rica’s rainy season, female olive ridley sea turtles come ashore by the tens of thousands and lay eggs in a mass nesting event known as an arribada. Hatchlings begin emerging about 45 days later.

Stunning.

If you’re looking to pass a little more time, go ahead and check out the winners of the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, which were pretty darn spectacular.

Then head on over to peruse the winners of Nature Photographer of The Year 2019.

It’s been a long year and you’ve earned some mid-workday off time.

[source:nationalgeographic]