NEW YORK, Feb 21 — National Geographic has joined an exclusive list made up of celebrities like Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian to break the 100-million mark on Instagram, becoming the first brand to reach the nine-digit milestone.

Photos uploaded to the account are taken by NatGeo’s network of professional photographers around the world and are accompanied by lengthy captions that explain the significance and context of the subjects.

A series of powerful portraits capturing LGBTQI couples in countries like Nepal, Kenya and Lebanon, for instance, was posted on Valentine’s Day to serve as a powerful statement on forbidden love around the world.

Valentine’s Day, NatGeo points out, celebrates a saint who was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were legally forbidden to marry.

"On this Valentine’s Day, we’re thinking of the LGBTQI+ folks around the world who, like the soldiers, are not allowed to wed, whose love is not recognised as equal to that of their straight compatriots,” the caption continues.

Then there’s the cheeky caption accompanying a picture of an Adélie penguin with its flipper around another penguin’s neck captured in Antarctica.

"‘It’s ok, buddy, we’re penguins. We can handle this blizzard.’ Pretty hard not to anthropomorphise a scene like this,” writes photographer Tim Laman. — AFP-Relaxnews