National Geographic Explorer and award-winning photographer Anand Varma combines science and storytelling to shed light on the seldom observed natural world. (He famously captured a parasite wiggling out of a cricket’s belly.) A biologist by education, he’s one of the more experimental photographers working in the field, sometimes embarking on projects that take four years to get the shot he’s after. His photos featured this week allow a peek into animal behaviors humans never get to see.

While photographer Richard Hewitt Stewart’s glass-plate photos from National Geographic’s October 1931 issue give off a distinctly spooky vibe, the story actually challenged the clown’s bad rep. “There is not half so much tragedy behind the funny make-ups of clowns as people like to believe,” wrote Francis Beverly Kelley in the feature. “All in all, the clown's is a noble calling. The world is full of tears, and man by nature is a sorrowing creature. It requires infinitely more to send us into the gales of laughter than it does to make us cry.

Thanks for reading today’s newsletter, which was edited and curated by William O'Connor with the help of National Geographic’s photo team. It was produced by Alisher Egamov. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here to catch next week’s Photo of the Week newsletter.