polar bear mother with cubs
VE-0217-polar-bears

In Manitoba’s Wapusk National Park, a polar bear and her four-month-old cub nestle by a willow tree. Hungry mothers and cubs exit their birthing dens each spring—at the same time seal pups are born on pack ice in nearby Hudson Bay.

Photograph by Daisy Gilardini
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The Most Stunning Visions of Earth

See phenomenal photos of the world’s wonders from the February 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine.

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This story appears in the February 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine.
frozen trees
CZECHIA

Braids of frost adorn beech and spruce trees on a ridge in the West Beskids. The discontinuous range—part of the ecologically important Carpathian Mountains—also spans Poland and Slovakia. This section has been protected since 1973.

Photograph by Jan Bainar
a penguin colony in a snow storm
Antarctica

What’s black and white and bred all over? Pléneau Island, where gentoo penguins mate each spring. Here, a thousand or so ofthe big, flightless birds—average size: 12 pounds, 2.5 feet tall—get acquainted during a snowstorm.

Photograph by Daisy Gilardini

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