A bird zeroing in on a flag-footed bug perched on a passionflower might see the flutter of red "flags"—the insect's attempt to divert the hunter's bite to nonessential limbs, away from its vital core.
Anisocelis flavolineata (insect); Passiflora sp. (flower)
Modeling fake parts and elegant disguises, many caterpillars keep their enemies guessing. A silk moth caterpillar comes with a false head, complete with mock antennae, to lure predators into biting its rear. Plan B: If the ruse fails, extra spines on the real head may prompt the attacker to spit out its prey still intact.
Date palms and reeds fed by an underground aquifer fringe the shore of Umm al Maa, one of about a dozen salty pools in the Ubari Sand Sea—reminders of the ancient Lake Megafezzan.
Sunrise reveals light traffic—a lone oxcart—along the Avenue of the Baobabs. The 80-foot-tall "upside-down trees" in the Menabe region could become the island country's first national monument.
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Sunrise reveals light traffic—a lone oxcart—along the Avenue of the Baobabs. The 80-foot-tall "upside-down trees" in the Menabe region could become the island country's first national monume ...
Limned by Hurricane Ike, an abstract expressionist expanse of oil-sheened floodwater surrounds a pump jack—a mechanical device used to extract oil—near High Island, Texas.
Strangler fig trees and creeping lichens devour ruins at Ta Prohm, once home to hundreds of monks. To build their magnificent complexes, Angkor’s feudal rulers relied on revenue generated by rice growing.
Leaf knockoffs down to brown spots and notched edges, two Mimetica katydids with twiglike legs can rest or feed without drawing attention. Still, their best efforts at blending in sometimes fail. Fleshy, protein rich, and toxin free, katydids are avidly sought and caught by keen-eyed monkeys, birds, lizards, frogs, and snakes.
Mimetica mortuifolia (at top); Mimetica viridifolia
In a prey's-eye view, an adult female snaps up a stickleback, a small spiny fish, from just beneath the water's surface. Beak color gives away a kingfisher's gender: Males show mostly black, while females have an orange lower mandible that matches their feet.
Wares for far eastern Russia—like flashy Chinese-made shoes worn by a bridesmaid in the port of Petropavlovsk—arrive chiefly by sea. Outbound ships from Kamchatka carry tons of frozen salmon, bound primarily for China, Japan, and South Korea.
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Leaf knockoffs down to brown spots and notched edges, two Mimetica katydids with twiglike legs can rest or feed without drawing attention. Still, their best efforts at blending in sometimes fa ...
This vigilant yellow eye belongs to a Nile crocodile, a fearsome hunter perfected by epochs of evolutionary trial and error. Over the course of 240 million years, these predators and their kin have come to rule the netherworld between dry land and deep water. But as their habitats dwindle, many croc species face an uncertain future.
Switzerland—Curiosity seekers stroll inside a crop circle etched in a Corcelles-près-Payerne wheat field in 2007. More than 200 feet in diameter, the pattern was spied by a Swiss military pilot flying over the Broye region.
居然昨天一忙都忘了发,那今天发两个吧,这都是1600×1200的大图,可以直接下载做桌面的哦
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This vigilant yellow eye belongs to a Nile crocodile, a fearsome hunter perfected by epochs of evolutionar ...