Wildlife

There won't be any lions, but the U.S. has some pretty mighty wildlife of its own.

Here are our top three picks for Caribbean islands with an abundance of exotic critters found both on land and sea. Click here to return to our full list of islands.

For anyone who thinks Instagram is nothing but an exercise in millennial frivolity—a venue reserved for selfies, food-themed tableaux, or over-filtered vacation snapshots—it's about time they became familiar with Paul Nicklen. The conservationist and contributing photographer to National Geographic has amassed a following of 3.5 million on the platform by posting images he's taken in the most remote regions of the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps. Through the beauty and diversity of the wildlife and landscapes he encounters, he tells poignant stories that highlight the fragility of these ecosystems under dire threat from climate change. A photo on Instagram of a skin-and-bones polar bear desperately searching for a meal, for example, reaches more viewers and elicits more emotional reactions than any research paper on how melting ice caps are threatening the largest land predator on earth. In a YouTube video with more than 1.4 million views, Nicklen makes the case for conservation and talks about what it's like to scuba dive in hypothermia-inducing waters, in the time it takes for someone to boil a pot of pasta. As co-founder of Sea Legacy, a non-profit organization, Nicklen brings together some of the world's top nature photographers to use their images to change—and lead—the conversation around ocean conservation. We caught up with Nicklen, just as he was preparing for yet another expedition to the North Pole, about some of his most memorable shoots and why he is so attracted to some of our planet's least hospitable regions.

From swimming with manatees to biking with alligators, experience Florida’s most underrated attribute—its nature—with these fun (and educational) day trips.