A leopard watches from a treetop as stars fill the dark blue night sky above it.

20 Spooky and Stunning Images That Nat Geo's Photo Editors Loved This Month

The WatcherA leopard patrols from a tree beneath a star-filled sky in South Africa's Timbavati Nature Reserve. Across the country, these carnivores grapple with habitat loss and fragmentation as well as illegal killing and trading. Due to the animal's solitary and secretive nature, the leopard population in South Africa varies widely, with researchers citing anywhere from 5,000 to 23,000 remaining. This photograph is featured in National Geographic photographer Steve Winter's book Big Cats.
Steve Winter, National Geographic
Photos curated byNational Geographic's Photography Department
Captions written byYasmine Maggio and Domonique Tolliver
Published November 13, 2026

A watchful leopard. Bright marigolds. Spooky spiders. Check out some of the pictures featured in our Photo of the Day.

Dozens of old cars sit in a deserted landscape.
A Sea of Cars in the DesertDrag racer and auto mechanic Larry Harms has been running his autobody business in an Idaho desert since 1967. Over the years, L & L Classic Auto became one of the world’s largest salvage yards and the resting place for over 10,000 vehicles from rare Cadillacs and GMC Pacers to school buses. But in June 2026, a fast-moving wildfire swept through the yard, burning 9,000 vehicles. The photo is featured in Laura McPhee's latest book, Silence So Deep It Rings: A Desert Chronicle.
Laura McPhee
A black-and-white photo of a small boy smiling while holding onto the fur of a racing sheep as a crowd watches from the stands.
Racing TraditionA smiling young rider holds tightly to a sheep during the Mutton Bustin’ competition at the 67th annual Roy LeBlanc Invitational Rodeo in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Held each August, the rodeo is one of the longest-running celebrations of Black rodeo culture in the United States. Mutton bustin' events function as the gateway to the rodeo for children, ensuring that the horsemanship and customs of Black cowboys are successfully passed down to the next generation.
Brian Edwards Jr
A girl in a white dress with her face painted sits in a room lit by the sun.
Dressed for CelebrationDuring Dia de los Muertos celebrations, women and girls in Mexico commonly dress as the famous skeletal figure known as La Catrina. In the early 1900s, artist José Guadalupe Posada created the character to satirize Mexicans who embraced European customs—a figure cloaked in European clothes, while its "bones" remain Mexican. Later popularized by artist Diego Rivera, La Catrina is the most recognizable symbol of the holiday and embodies Mexican identity.
Dana Ullman
Bright yellow cempasúchil flowers glow in the morning sunlight in San Pedro Cholula, Puebla, Mexico.
Flowers That Guide the DeadCempasúchil flowers (Tagetes erecta) bloom at sunrise in San Pedro Cholula, Mexico. The flowers are traditionally believed by the Mexican people to guide the souls of the dead back from Mictlán, the Aztec underworld, to their families during Día de los Muertos. The bloom is made up of a dense, abundant cluster of countless tiny petals, reflected in its Nahuatl name, cempoalxóchitl, which means “many flowers.”
Koral Carballo
An orange, white, and black Mediterranean praying mantis stretches out its arms and legs in a defensive display while hanging onto a green plant.
Think BigA Mediterranean mantis (Iris oratoria) clings to a plant, stretching out its arms and legs in a defensive display. As a survival strategy, mantises try to make themselves appear as large and imposing as possible to potential predators. The Mediterranean mantis is particularly quick to become defensive—even when a photographer gets too close. When threatened, a mantis may stand tall on its hind legs, arch its back, raise its raptorial forelegs, and fan out its wings to create a more intimidating appearance.
Hasan Baglar
Two men sitting in red plastic chairs mark ballots at a polling station during the 2026 elections for the Tibetan government-in-exile.
A Ballot for TibetTwo voters mark ballots during elections for the Tibetan government-in-exile at a polling station. The preliminary round of the 2026 elections for Sikyong, or political leader, and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile took place across more than 30 countries, with voting centered in Dharamshala, India. The Tibetan community and its government have been in exile for 67 years, following the flight of the 14th Dalai Lama in March 1959.
Yousuf Sarfaraz
Hundreds of tiny, dark ermine moth caterpillars cover a tree in white silk.
The Ghostly WillowA swarm of ermine moth caterpillars engineered this surreal scene along the Waal River in the Netherlands, encasing a willow tree in silk. The caterpillars, captured by photographer Theo Bosboom, used the ghostly covering as a path to the tree’s leaves and as protection from birds and other predators until it was time to transform into moths and fly off. Bosboom was mesmerized by the “frantic energy” of the creatures, which crawled into his hair and gear as they spun the eerie creation. This photo is featured in the "In Focus" series in the October 2026 issue of National Geographic.
Theo Bosboom
The sun rises over a bare forest.
Ghost ForestForests were once found in abundance across Maryland's Eastern Shore. But due to its flat landscape, the region has been vulnerable to the effects of sea-level rise. As rising seas push saltwater farther inland, increasing soil salinity can kill trees, leaving behind "ghost forests" that are now ubiquitous across the Eastern Shore. Photographer Yazan Aboushi says his image captures the "haunting stalks that remain of what was once a thriving forest, now transitioning into marsh at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge."
Yazan Aboushi
A lynx spider with skinny green-and-black legs rests on a leaf.
In Search of PreyWhile exploring the Amazon rainforest near Puyo, Ecuador, this lynx spider caught photographer Dara Ojo's eye. Its long, spiny legs feature bristles that help trap the prey they grasp—a detail that Ojo captured through macro photography. "Every creature has something interesting about it, and sometimes all it takes is getting close enough to appreciate it," he tells National Geographic.
Dara Ojo
A jumping spider with two big black eye and two smaller ones carries white and yellow pollen on its body.
Pretty in PollenPhotographer John-Oliver Dum was first drawn to jumping spiders after learning that they sometimes supplement their diet with plant-based food sources. He then set out to capture that behavior, photographing this jumping spider carrying pollen on its body. "My aim is to combine microscopy, photography, observation of animal behavior, and education," Dum says "to show that even very small and familiar creatures can reveal completely unexpected stories when we look closely enough." Dum's image won second place in the 2026 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.
John-Oliver Dum, Nikon Small World
Smoke fills a forested area.
On Fire, On PurposeAt the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy near Tallahassee, Florida, prescribed burns are a normal part of studying fire ecology and working toward long-term land conservation. These low- to moderate-intensity fires can improve forest health by clearing dense vegetation and invasive plants. In turn, fire-tolerant native vegetation has room to grow, helping make forests more resilient to severe wildfires.
Lindsey Kennedy
A black-and-white photo of an animal skeleton laying in the grass along a shore.
Along the Inner SoundScotland's Inner Sound contains the deepest stretch of Great Britain's territorial waters. Working as a commercial skipper, photographer Nicholas J.R. White grew curious about the area, snapping photos of sacred sites, shrines, chapels, and cemeteries alongside the stark, ethereal landscapes of the Atlantic edge. This image of a deer skeleton is part of his project, Fear God, Dread Nought, which explores the relationship between faith and the nuclear deterrent in the Scottish Hebrides
Nicholas J.R. White
Orange, beige, and black-spotted monarch butterflies cluster together, almost covering the trunk of an oyamel fir tree.
WanderersMonarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) cluster on the trunk of an oyamel fir (Abies religiosa) in the Sierra Chincua Sanctuary, part of Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán. The reserve protects the high-altitude forests and precise mountain microclimate that provide essential winter habitats for up to 70 percent of the world’s eastern monarch population. Monarch butterflies are key pollinators for wildflowers, as well as a crucial food source for birds, small mammals, and other insects. This photograph is featured in National Geographic Explorer Jaime Rojo's book Monarchs.
Jaime Rojo
Tall white wind turbines spin fast, making their blades disappear against a dark blue sky. They stand among rolling green hills.
Rotation StationAt Tehachapi Pass in Kern County, California, towering wind turbines cast shadows across rolling hills. Known as the birthplace of North American wind energy, Tehachapi became home to some of the continent’s first large-scale wind farms in the early 1980s. Today, generations of turbines continue to turn side by side, capturing the evolution of wind power in a landscape shaped by the wind.
Garret Suhrie
An American alligator sunbathes on a log, surrounded by water tupelo trees above and dark water below.
SunbathingAn American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) lies on a log amongst ancient water tupelos (Nyssa aquatica) in the Beidler Forest in Harleyville, South Carolina. Light barely penetrates beneath the dense canopy of the old growth forest, but ectotherms like alligators and turtles find adequate sunbathing locations in areas where trees cannot grow. This photo is a part of National Geographic Explorer Mac Stone's immersive photography book, Cypress: The Last Old-Growth Swamps.
Mac Stone
A man in a brown spotted Eurasian curlew bird costume opens a gate on a farm.
Conservation MascotWearing a costume of the near-threatened Eurasian curlew, conservationist Matt Trevelyan opens a gate on a farm as he strolls through the Nidderdale valley in northern England. Photographer and National Geographic Explorer Morgan Heim took this image of Trevelyan, who in recent years has worn his handcrafted getup on a 53-mile hike—and even to London’s Parliament—to raise awareness about the bird’s vanishing habitat in the English moors. “He believes in spectacle for conservation,” says Heim. This photo is featured in the "In Focus" series in the October 2026 issue of National Geographic.
Morgan Heim
Pink, blue, and green chemicals appear on a polarizing microscope in the shapes of leaves.
Secret FormulaIn his Dublin, Ireland-based lab, photographer Karl Gaff devised a secret formula using compounds like iron sulfate and urea to make this striking image. After spreading the mixture onto a glass slide, he heated it and then used a polarizing microscope to capture the exact moment it crystallized. The chemical process produced this vivid composition, which Gaff says resembles “a dense wall of foliage” with a colorful array of plants, flowers, and tree branches. This photo is featured in the "In Focus" series in the October 2026 issue of National Geographic.
Karl Gaff, Art of Science Photography
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from a launch pad, creating a red and blue streak in the dark blue night sky above a dark body of water.
SoarAgainst the darkness of an early Florida morning, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket tears through the sky, creating a portrait of humanity’s reach beyond Earth. At 6:33 a.m. ET on October 13, the rocket rose from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Photographer Michael Seeley captured the entire spectacle in a single 426-second exposure across the Banana River, which saw the Falcon 9’s exhaust plume catching the rays of the rising sun while the landscape below remained in darkness.
Michael Seeley
Three cattle ranchers ride horses and corral cattle in an open field in Buck Island Ranch, Florida.
Misty SunrisePhotographer and National Geographic Explorer Carlton Ward Jr. wanted to get close as close as possible to these Florida cracker cattle on the pastures of the state's Buck Island Ranch. Using a wide angle lens, Ward witnessed the ranchers herding the cattle on horseback before dawn. “I was looking for the layering for the story,” he tells National Geographic. “Having the cowboy near the foreground is really important, but having the other cowboys in the background on the other side of the herd kind of helps make it a more immersive experience.” Ward's exhibition, "The Wild Path: Connecting the Florida We Don’t See,” is currently on display at the Orlando Museum of Art.
Carlton Ward Jr.
Walker Guinnee curated this selection of images for Photo of the Day, where we highlight one extraordinary photograph every day. Yasmine Maggio and Domonique Tolliver wrote and researched the captions. Check out today's photo here.