The sign above the door of restaurant and hotel “Am Paulusbogen” is partially submerged in the flooded centre of the Bavarian town of Passau, about 200 km (124 miles) north-east of Munich June 3, 2013. (Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters)

People observe the landslide-affected area after the landslide at Lumle village in Kaski district July 30, 2015. Landslides triggered by torrential rain in Nepal swept through villages on Thursday, killing at least 30 people close to the nation's most popular trekking circuit, home ministry officials said. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Tim Laman is a field biologist and wildlife photojournalist. His pioneering research in the rain forest canopy in Borneo led to a PhD from Harvard and his first National Geographic article in 1997. Since then, he has pursued his passion for exploring wild places and documenting little-known and endangered wildlife by becoming a regular contributor to National Geographic. He has eighteen articles to his credit to date, all of which have had a conservation message. Some have focused on endangered species such as Orangutans or Hornbills, while others, such as a series of articles on Conservation International’s Biodiversity Hotspots, have highlighted regions under intense pressure.

A cenote is a natural phenomenon, a sinkhole in the Earth’s surface. The Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico has an estimated 7,000 cenotes because it is primarily made up of porous limestone. For millions of years, rainfall slowly ate away at the limestone and a huge system of underground caves and caverns was formed. Many filled with water from rain or from the underground water table. When the roof of a water filled cave collapses, a cenote is born. The water found in a cenote may be fresh water, salt water, or both. Structurally it may be completely open, like a lake, almost completely closed with just a small opening at the top, or somewhere in between.

Graffiti saying “justice” partially seen above flood waters in Asuncion, December 27, 2015. More than 100,000 people have had to evacuate from their homes in the bordering areas of Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina due to severe flooding in the wake of heavy summer rains brought on by El Nino, authorities said on Saturday. (Photo by Jorge Adorno/Reuters)

A local miner wades through water as he walks down from a mountain in Benguet a day after Typhoon Haima struck northern Philippines, October 21, 2016. Super Typhoon Haima slammed into the northeastern Philippine coast late Wednesday with ferocious winds and rain that rekindled fears and memories from the catastrophe wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

A photograph of a dog taken from underneath on December 2016 in VA, Canada. Forget the cats, itÌs just raining dogs! A creative duo have come up with an innovative way to raise money for animal welfare; photographing dogs as youÌve never seen them before. Professional photographer Jason Kenzie and designer Tania Ryan have created a unique set of images from the underside of dogs, named The Underdogs Project. The project will be featured as a 2017 calendar, with each month belonging to a quirky canine. (Photo by The Underdogs Project/Barcroft Images)

A wild water buffalo eats tree branches standing in flood water at the Pobitora wildlife sanctuary in Pobitora, Morigaon district, Assam, India, Thursday, July 16, 2020. Floods and landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed dozens of people in this northeastern region. The floods also inundated most of Kaziranga National Park, home to an estimated 2,500 rare one-horned rhinos. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)