Breathtaking National Geographic photos capture the diversity of life on Earth

These NatGeo photo contest entries will stun

Published October 23, 2014 1:00PM (EDT)

l had a chance to photograph a puma at very close distance in Bozeman. When a puma focus a target, its very impressive to watch its concentration, eyes, speed, opening his paws and nails.      (<em>Photo and caption by </em><a href="http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-contest/2014/users/2422718/"><em>Serhat Demiroglu </em></a>/National Geographic Photo Contest 2014)
l had a chance to photograph a puma at very close distance in Bozeman. When a puma focus a target, its very impressive to watch its concentration, eyes, speed, opening his paws and nails. (Photo and caption by Serhat Demiroglu /National Geographic Photo Contest 2014)

According to the National Wildlife Federation, there are between three and 30 million species on the planet, although we have only identified 1.7 million of them thus far. The below photographs just scratch the surface of the diverse abundance of life on Earth, but they do so pretty magnificently.

They are all entries in this year's National Geographic Photo Contest, which is still accepting submissions until Oct. 31.

Take a look at the slideshow below for scenes from the Antarctic Peninsula to Morocco to Montana.

[slide_show id ="13802816"]


By Joanna Rothkopf

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Biodiversity Photographs Slideshow Wildlife