Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, New Mexico, USA Mar. 9, 2024

Time is the great transformer, changing the world and all of us. For instance, this New Mexico badland—the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness—was once a lush, tropical forest. Nearly 70 million years ago, instead of twisted terrains and towering spires, this place was home to an array of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs, including armoured ankylosaurs, duck-billed hadrosaurs and mighty Tyrannosaurs. Today, the area is filled with wonders of a different kind, rock formations that look more like sculptures than natural phenomena. Bisti/De-Na-Zin is named after Navajo words: Bisti means "among the adobe formations," and De-Na-Zin comes from nearby rock carvings of a "standing crane." Visitors to the Four Corners region shouldn"t miss out on this otherworldly landscape of shale and sandstone.

© Ian Shive/Tandem Stills + Motion

palette

Today in History

A rainbow that’s worth the rainfall
Mar. 9, 2025Daylight saving time begins
Mar. 9, 2026Grey seal sleeping on the beach, Orkney Islands, Scotland

More Desktop Wallpapers:

A pink moon over Arizona
International Archaeology Day
Spirit of the Puffing Wind
Nov. 15, 2024Yi Peng lantern festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Dec. 14, 2023Boreal owl
Apr. 19, 2026Mirror Beach, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil
Jan. 2, 2025Ardez village, Graubunden, Switzerland
Hop into Lunar New Year
Sep. 6, 2023Rethymno, Crete, Greece
Surrounded by a sea of sand
Winter at Valley Forge
Rising with the sun
Rebels of the owl world
What returned to this city 500 years ago?
Let the Great Backyard Bird Count begin!
The ancient home of the Minoans
Aug. 10, 2024Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA
Mar. 20, 2026Spring equinox
Where fire and water meet
Oct. 15, 2023European hedgehog
Sep. 9, 2024Iguazu Falls at the border of Argentina and Brazil
Sep. 3, 2023Skyscrapers in Manhattan
Feb. 19, 2024Toledo, Spain
Oct. 30, 2025Pushkar Camel Fair
What are these ancient animals?
A ghost on the mountain
Dec. 3, 2025Sandhill cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, United States
Angry bird, doting dad
Floating mailboxes
Jul. 22, 2025Badlands National Park, South Dakota, United States