Kathy Moran, Senior Editor, Natural History

My favorite photograph of 2013 has to be one of C-boy the lion. I’ve worked with photographer Nick Nichols for 20 years. “The Short Happy Life of the Serengeti Lion” is the 15th story that we’ve collaborated on for the magazine and the one that I have most wanted to do. I love big cats. For me, this image is the culmination of years of research, planning, and advances in photographic technology coming together in a simple yet powerful way.

Lions come alive at night. By photographing C-boy in infrared black and white, without intrusive flash, Nick made the most naturalistic images ever of nocturnal lions. His photographs revealed lions as we rarely get