Humpback Whales, Camel Racing, and a Sauna in the Sky: View the Winners of National Geographic’s 2015 Traveler Photo Contest

KS_LOGOs2_PopCultureThe winners of the 27th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest have just been announced! 🎉

First place went to Anuar Patjane for his photo of divers swimming with a humpback whale and her newborn calf off the coast of Mexico. He won an eight-day photo expedition for two to Costa Rica and the Panama Canal. Not a bad deal!

Winner of the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Credit: Anuar Patjane
Winner of the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Credit: Anuar Patjane

The 2015 Traveler Photo Contest judges reviewed nearly 18,000 photographs, and ten pictures won top prizes. Photographers entered pictures into four categories: Travel Portraits, Outdoor Scenes, Sense of Place, and Spontaneous Moments. You can view the top ten below – click here to browse all of the entries and pick your favorites!

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Incredible Time-Lapse of a Bee’s Birth: From Egg to Flight in 60 Seconds

KS NatureScreen Shot 2015-05-23 at 12.39.26 PMNational Geographic Japan shared this amazing time-lapse video of a bee being born. I love when science videos get over 1,653,803 views on YouTube 🙂 Click here for more information about a bee’s life cycle!

Over the course of 21 days, you can watch this bee egg hatch into a larva – the larva swims in its cell, feeding on liquid food from the queen bee – the legs and head evolve as it develops into a pupa – the tissue reorganizes in its body and the eyes form – then, the skin shrivels and it sprouts hair. BOOM. Bee time.

This video is the work of biologist turned photographer, Anand Varma.

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