/wildlife
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/birdsDinner time
A common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) hunting in water. The picture was taken in a nature reserve in the Po river belt, province of Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy. Picture by Luca Casale, reproduced here using a Creative Commons license.
/wildlifeWho's the boss?
A hippo can open its jaws astonishingly wide - up to about 150 degrees. That's almost straight open - enough for plenty of food. However, in this case it is a display of dominance rather than hunger, boredom or tiredness. As such, it's pretty convincing. Picture by Diego Delso
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/amazing-placesLongsheng Rice Terraces, China
A farmhouse near the village of Huangluo, Longsheng. Village elders have a saying in Longsheng: where there is soil there is a terrace. Two hours ride from the city of Guilin in Guanxi province, the problem of growing rice on steep hills was long ago solved. From the Yuan Dynasty
/birdsJames's Flamingo mating ritual
The James's Flamingo (Phoenicopterus jamesi), also known as the Puna Flamingo, is a South American flamingo, named for Harry Berkeley James. The entire colony may participate in mating rituals at the same time. The males put on a show by vocalizing and sticking their necks and he
/offbeat/amazing-placesGorge trail near Rainbow Falls, Watkins Glen State Park, New York State
This dramatic gorge was carved at the end of the last Ice Age by glacial meltwater (taking thousands of years to create what we see today). Over time the water cut step-like terraces into the rock, and bridges were built to allow safe exploration in the 1920s and 30s. This pict
/wildlifeColour Sergeant butterfly displaying bilateral gynandromorphism
Displaying what, exactly? Bilateral gynandromorphism is a rare, dramatic genetic anomaly where one side of the animal is completely male and the other is completely female. Unlike hermaphrodites, which typically have both sets of reproductive organs but look like one sex externa
/amazing-placesAftermath of the Japanese invasion of Alaska: 75mm gun abandoned by their military on Kiska Island
In the early morning of 6 June 1942, 500 Japanese soldiers landed on Kiska, one of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. They took the only inhabitants of the island, a ten man (and six dog) US Navy Weather Detachment by complete surprise and quickly took control of American soil. US