Top 10 nature photos of all time for 2013

1-What do a dancing polar bear, a thresher shark and a group of elephants have in common? They're just a few of the breathtaking images that have been selected as the Top 40 Nature Photographs to celebrate the naugural 'Earth Day Green Auction.'

The collection, which represents a wide range of styles and genres that span over 100 years of history, was chosen by members of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

2-Water lilies (Nymphaea nouchali), Okavango Delta, Botswana by Frans Lanting

Photograhper Frans Lanting says: 'During my work in Botswana's Okavango Delta, I looked for ways to capture the essence of this great wetland and my own response to the wonder of it. The delta's water lilies drew me in because they symbolize life made possible by water in this dry land. One day I looked down in a clear lagoon and noticed how a patch of lilies was anchored in desert sand.'

He adds, 'An idea took hold. I plunged into the swamp. While an assistant stood guard in a small boat, I sank to the bottom with a camera encased in a bubble-shaped underwater housing. I held my breath on each dive, which allowed for less than a minute at the bottom.

3-Stone Canyon Petrified Sand Dunes and Reflection, Paria Canyon - VermilionCliffs Wilderness, Arizona by Jack Dykinga

Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist and landscape photographer Jack Dykinga made this photograph as part of a campaign to create National Monuments in both the Paria Canyon and Escalante Canyon drainages. 

He had tried on six separate occasions to make this image following seasonal rains, dissatisfied each time with the quality of the reflections in the standing water. His final effort paid off after driving south from Salt Lake City and arriving near Paria Canyon around midnight. Dykinga camped at the mouth of one of the side canyons and began hiking in around 3:30am in order to arrive on location in time for dawn and calm water.

4-Split Rock and Cloud, Eastern Sierra, California by Galen Rowell

Galen Rowell (1940-2002) was a master of incorporating fleeting qualities of natural light in compelling compositions. He saw this splendidly illuminated cirrus cloud floating quickly on the wind while climbing one evening in the Buttermilk region of California's Eastern Sierra Nevada. 

Rather than simply capturing an image of the cloud out of context with the place, Galen wished to incorporate a sense of the boulder-strewn granite landscape around him. He imagined a composition that paired the cloud with a strongly graphic silhouette, and traversed the rugged landscape to find a foreground subject in a suitable position to photograph against the sky while the cloud passed overhead.

5-Polar Dance by Tom Mangelsen

Here the relatively solitary bears come together and socialize waiting for the temperatures to drop and the ice to freeze in Cape Churchill. As the winter storm approached the cape, during near whiteout conditions, two adult polar bears test each other's strength in what is known as play fighting. 

Photographer Tom Mangelsen says, 'Polar bears are my favorite mammal to photograph, and this image titled "Polar Dance" with its almost human-like gestures of dance and the mood created by the blowing snow is my most favorite image I've made.

6-Polar Bear
Seeing double! This polar bear looks into his reflection as he travels submerged in the icy water - a tactic often used to surprise prey

7-Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend, Franklin River, Southwest Tasmania, Australia by Peter Dombrovskis.

Photographed by Peter Dombrovskis, this iconic image was instrumental in allowing the rivers to run free. It was first published in 'The Australian Newspaper' prior to the 1983 Australian Federal Elections with the slogan, 'Could you vote for a party that would destroy this?





8-Australian Sea Lions, Hopkins Island, South Australia by David Doubilet

Photographer David Doubilet says of the Austrian Sea Lions: 'They are a curious species that nuzzle the lens and playfully pull on fin and mask straps. While I was photographing them the leader of the group stood straight up and looked around and then swam straight and fast for the beach with the entire group following. The sea was still and quiet and something told us that maybe we should leave too and we climbed into our boat just as a great white shark came into view.

9-Thresher Shark, Mexico's Gulf of California
Doomed by a gill net, this thresher shark is among an estimated 100 million sharks killed yearly for their fins. They add to the devastating global fish catch: nearly 100 million tons.

10-Tortoises at Dawn, Galapagos Islands by Frans Lanting
Photographer Frans Lanting says: 'The Galápagos Islands provide a window on time. In a geologic sense, the islands are young, yet they appear ancient. The largest animals native to this archipelago are giant tortoises, which can live for more than a century. These are the creatures that provided Darwin with the flash of imagination that led to his theory of evolution.