Best photos August 2011 from National Geographic Bashny.Net

Focus on the best photos of the last month of the summer by the magazine National Geographic.



Elephants, Kenya



Prairie dog: the invocation to the heavens. These rodents are a family of squirrels. They live in North America. They are typical representatives of the animal world prairie. Prairie dogs have great loyalty and courage, they will fight bravely defending his home territory and family. The adult black-tailed prairie dog reaches a length of 30-38 cm and weighs 1.2 kg. Prairie dogs get used to captivity and to his master.



Swimmer, Portugal



The dunes of the Namib Desert. The name "Namibia" in the language of the people of Nama means "place where there is nothing." The Namib Desert in southwestern Africa is extremely dry and virtually uninhabited. It is considered the oldest desert in the world, the desert or semi-desert conditions exist here continuously for the past 80 million years, that is, the desert was formed during the time of dinosaurs. For thousands of years of wind, like a sculptor, created here the highest dunes in the world. They are red from iron oxide.



Mosque "Al-Kazim" in Baghdad



Starfish, British Columbia. These brightly colored animals belong to a class of invertebrates such as echinoderms. Their sizes range from 2 cm to 1 meter, although the majority - 12-25 cm. Average number of rays - from 5 to 50 Starfish - predators, albeit slow-moving animals. In total there are about 1,600 species of sea star today.



Memorial to victims of the Great Irish Famine (1845-1852) in Dublin. Then for seven years as a result of hunger, epidemics, expulsion from the land died of 1.1 to 1.5 million. People. And more than a million emigrated. Ireland has lost up to 25% of the population. The memorial was built in Dublin in 2006.



Woman of the Year 2008, Yemen. Nujood Ali (born in 1998) - Yemeni girl who in 2008 became the "Woman of the Year 2008". In 8 years Nudzhud given in marriage to a man three times her age. After two months of "marriage" the girl managed to escape and come to court. The award "Woman of the World" founded the first Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and handed over to the women, who have committed acts that cause tremendous respect and become an example for others.



White American black bear in a tree, British Columbia. In years when the number of salmon is low, bears have to seek out other sources of food, such as climbing trees for fruit.



Fishermen, Myanmar



The family of shepherds, Turkey



The image of Cleopatra, Dendera, Egypt. This temple dedicated to the goddess Hathor - the daughter of the solar deities worshiped by the Egyptians as a symbol of femininity, motherhood, and referred to as "golden lady". In the outer walls of the temple depicts Cleopatra, accompanying the prayer of the temple of Hathor to his son Caesarion.



Leaf Viburnum. Already I feel the approach of autumn ...



Morning fog, Adirondack. Adirondack - a mountain range in the northeast of the State of New York, the northern part of the mountain system of the Appalachians.



Touareg, looking into the distance. Algeria.



Yellow birch, USA. Another autumn photos. It is the largest of all American birches. Under favorable growing conditions it reaches a height of 30 m and a diameter of 1 meter, but more often the height of 18-24 m and a diameter of 0, 75 m.



Buddha, China. An interesting picture: the huge head of Buddha stands next to a blank place for coal. Coal reserves may end for several decades, making it necessary to search for alternative sources of energy in China.