Why You Should Be Following National Geographic's Instagram

You've got the whole world in your hands— literally.

National Geographic Magazine was first published in October 1888.

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"Photo by Michael Nichols."

Which means National Geographic has been teaching us about our amazing planet for over 125 years.

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"Photo by @jimmy_chin Good to know Yosemite is back open and allowing climbers to return to their natural habitat. Here @alexhonnold looks out over the void up high on Half Dome. This was shot on a @natgeo assignment about the climbing culture and cutting edge of climbing in Yosemite Valley, the epicenter of big wall climbing."

And much to everyone's delight you can now follow Nat Geo on Instagram.

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"Photographer @paulnicklen on assignment in Hawaii with @cristinamittermeier. Surfers at Makaha Beach have salt water running through their veins. @Haakeaulana and @maili duck-dive under a large breaking wave."

So whether you're a world traveler with an appetite for adventure...

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"Photo by @Spono. Exploring the inland fissures of Iceland with @DanEnRoute. We're traveling around the world for @natgeomag. Follow our dispatches at onward.nationalgeographic.com."

...an animal lover on a never-ending search for cute pictures...

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"Photo by Ira Block. A young girl lifts a baby goat in Mongolia's South Gobi desert. Her family follows the traditional nomadic lifestyle, moving their animals to new pastures every few months. They live in gers, known to westerners as yurts, which can be dismantled and set up quickly. The round form of the gers make them stable in the high winds common to the Gobi."

...or simply a curious human with a desire to know more about the world you live in...

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"Photo by @DavidDoubilet. A father and son fish from a traditional wooden dugout over the rich coral gardens in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. The rich and diverse reefs of PNG lie within the Coral Triangle. This image from my new story titled Paradise Revisted in @Nat Geo November issue."

There is something to be learned with every picture.

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"Photo by Amy Toensing working with @refugepoint. A young refugee girl skips rope before assisting her mother with dinner - a shared plate of donated rice from a local NGO. The eldest daughter in her family, the ten year old's future at this point is uncertain. With conflict still raging in her country, she and her relatives cannot return safely to their farm back home; however, remaining in their refugee neighborhood presents new risks as she approaches her teenage years and her options become more limited. Too often, refugee girls are denied education as they get older and instead are treated as economic commodities within their families. Desperate parents will exchange their daughters for a dowry in order to provide for the remaining children."

You can explore a culture you never knew about.

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"On All Souls Day, a man sits on top of one of the thousands of coffin-sized stacked graves at a cemetery in Marikina, Philippines. iPhone photo by @jonasbendiksen."

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"@marcusbleasdale A Child Soldier of FRPI commanded by Cobra Matata on patrol outside of Gety the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are recruited from the local youth and many of them are under 16 years of age. A UN Report states that FRPI controlled the gold mining site of Bavi from where, according to an ex-FRPI combatant and inhabitants of Bavi, the rebels generate profits through illegal taxation and the direct sale of gold. According to traders in Bunia, gold from Bavi is of superior quality in the region, which makes it easy to recognize. The main buyers are traders from Bunia and Butembo. FRPI also sells gold directly to Ugandan armed forces officers posted along the Congolese border."

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"Photo by Michael Yamashita @yamashitaphoto. Here's one from the 125 years of National Geographic exhibition, opening in Taipei: Girls with Guns, wedding guests, Iraqi Kurdistan."

Get a dose of your daily whimsy.

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"Nick and John Steinmetz work on their rendering of Mont Saint Michel on the mudflats of Normandy. iPhone photograph by George Steinmetz."

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"Photo by: @pedromcbride (Pete McBride). Seen from Tapovan at 14,200 feet, the Milky Way shines brightly over the 21,329 foot Shivling Peak in the Garhwal Range of the Indian Himalaya. Looming above the Gangotri Glacier, and the headwaters of the Bhagirathi River (which becomes the Ganges when it joins the Alakananda at Devprayag downstream) Mt. Shivling is considered a sacred symbol of the God Lord Shiva. We came here to climb it's neighbor to the northeast, the unclimbed Chaukhamba IV as we document the Ganges River, source to sea, with images and water sample studies."

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"Photo by @paulnicklen - A young polar bear leaps between ice floes on the Barents Sea near Svalbard, Norway."

Immerse yourself in a world of strange traditions.

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"iPhone photo by Aaron Huey. My son stands in front of a precariously stacked #mountain of folding chairs. I was lucky to be a collaborator with Artist Evan Blackwell on his "Chair Shacking" installation, working by the light of a late-night bonfire at Smoke Farm Lo-Fi Arts Festival outside Seattle last night."

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"Photo by Aaron Huey on assignment for @NatGeo in Svanetia GeorgianRepublic. At the Quiricoba Festival in Kala young men compete to lift a 250 pound stone, with the goal of throwing over their head to land behind them. Most cannot get the stone off the ground."

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"Photo @coryrichards Standard fare gift shop in Murmansk Russia."

Or virtually visit the most remote places on Earth.

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"Rain streams down a car window looking out on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang. iPhone photo by @dguttenfelder inside North Korea."

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"Photo by @paulnicklen - A diver inspects the screws of the Louis St. Laurent while stopped amongst the sea ice of the Northwest Passage."

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"Photo: @jimmy_chin Hanging out at the office. @robfrostmedia having a high angle kind of day in the Bugaboos while filming climbers."

But really, you'll just be happy you followed, because look at this adorable baby elephant.

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"Photo by Michael Nichols."