[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series, Animals & Habitats, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
/> For certain animals, “going green” is more than just a trendy phrase… it’s a lifestyle! Indeed, green animals wear their chosen colors on their sleeves – their greensleeves, as it were. Green is the color of life, money and Ireland; and for these 10 amazing creatures, every day is St. Patrick’s Day!
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Green Insects
(images via: Cae2k, Maniacworld and Wild Madagascar)
Insects are the original green mimics, adopting the predominant shade of the plants they live amongst as a way to hide from predators and conceal themselves from their prey.
(images via: G Living, CrocMusic and Amy Hogan)
Beetles, caterpillars, spiders, flies and more incorporate green pigments into their exoskeletons and skins; an incredible achievement in color matching that has evolved incrementally over hundreds of millions of years!
(images via: SoulPix, Aphids.com and Firefly Forest)
One of the biggest, greenest, and arguably meanest of insects is the Praying Mantis. Approximately 2,200 mantis species have been identified and all are exclusively predatory. Larger mantises have been known to take down frogs, lizards, snakes, rodents and even birds! Of course, the Praying Mantis’ main claim to fame is the fatal attraction the female mantis has for her mate. As Don Dixon puts it in his classic homage to predatory females of ANY species, “She wanted his body so much, she ate his brain.”
Green Fish
In contrast to insects that have embraced the color green while living in a verdant world of plant life, animals of the oceans, lakes and rivers are usually tinted anything but green. The examples of green marine life above owe much to ambient lighting conditions for their bilious hues.
(image via: LiveScience)
There are some outstanding exceptions to the rule of green sea creature rarity, such as the sea slug Elysia Chlorotica. Though unarguably an animal, this unappealing animal has incorporated green chloroplast cells from algae it has eaten into its skin, allowing it to derive energy from sunlight just as plants do. Pretty cool… for a slug!
Green Frogs
(images via: Treehugger, Cam Battley and The View From Here)
As amphibians, frogs are air-breathing but need sources of water to keep their skins moist and to act as growth mediums for their gilled larval stages. As such, frogs are usually found in rainforests and wetlands where being green serves as a natural form of camouflage. Green frogs can be striped, spotted, and in the case of actual Green Frogs, solid green.
(image via: GameSpot)
Tree frogs are among the greenest of the frogs if one uses color intensity as a benchmark. In many cases, however, their brilliant green skins are complemented by big, bulbous eyes of a contrasting color. Green-skinned tropical frogs are usually not poisonous; those that are, typically have skins that are extremely visible against the constant green of rainforest foliage.
Green Lizards
(images via: Scoop NZ, Petzotics and Benweb 3.1)
Lizards often display bright green coloration to help them blend in with the flora within which they eat, sleep and live their lives. Many pet owners are familiar with Green Anole lizards, popular pets that are native to southeastern United States. Anoles are not chameleons but can change their skin color in a broad range from brilliant green to dusky brown to match their local habitat.
(image via: TropicaLiving)
The young Green Iguana above looks like it has no need to hide from anyone or anything – it appears almost dinosaur-like. No surprise that iguanas were often used as “actors” in early sci-fi or horror films when a Battle Of Prehistoric Monsters was called for.
Green Turtles
(images via: Weblo and Underwater.com)
Green Turtles can be found in all the world’s warmer oceanic waters and over a lifespan estimated at up to 80 years they can grow to enormous sizes – the heaviest on record weighed in at 395 kilograms (870 pounds). True marine turtles with flippers for limbs, Green Turtles can migrate extremely long distances from their feeding grounds to their preferred nesting beaches.
(image via: All About Sea Turtles)
Although decidedly greener in hue than other large sea turtles, Green Turtles get their name not from their outside but their inside. Specifically, the turtles have a layer of green-tinged fat that separates their internal organs from the inner side of the carapace.
Green Snakes
(images via: Free Best Wallpapers, The Wallpaperhunter and Dreamstime)
Snakes of various species can exhibit some of the most beautiful shades of green seen on any living creatures. The green pigmentation of snakes has less to do with their species than with their habitat – like other animals, green serves as an effective camouflage whether one is catching dinner, or avoiding being one. Most North Americans have seen the Smooth Green Snake or Grass Snake, a small (up to 1 meter or 3 feet) insect-eating snake common in the United States and southern Canada.
(image via: ScienceRay)
Another exquisitely tinted – though extremely dangerous – green snake is the Green Mamba, found in forested areas of eastern and southern Africa. Green Mambas are smaller and less aggressive than their feared cousins, the Black Mambas, but untreated bites are often fatal as their potent venom quickly paralyzes the victim’s heart and lungs.
Green Birds
(images via: Arcticpuppy, Chockstone Photos and Your Lovely Pets)
The bird at above top is a yellow-green grosbeak, found in Panama and the northern part of South America. If you’re looking for seriously green birds, however, the parrot family is a great start. From common budgies to strikingly beautiful (and surprisingly intelligent) Amazon Parrots, these large and loud birds highlight their predominantly green feathers with dashes of red, yellow and blue.
(image via: Kelli L)
Scaly-breasted Lorikeets like the one pictured above really stand out among other green birds, though you’d be hard pressed to spot one in its natural habitat of Australia’s woodlands. So closely do their green feathers, yellow trim and scalloped patterning resemble the appearance of a fully leafed-out tree that skilled naturalists look instead for the coral-colored beak – most often, there’s a Scaly-breasted Lorikeet attached to it.
Green Sloths
(images via: Firefly Forest and Deoxy)
There are no green mammals per se, but there IS one that often appears green: the Tree Sloth. Whether it’s of the Two-toed or Three-toed variety, sloths are SLOW… so slow, blue-green algae grows in and on their fur during rainier parts of the year. This isn’t a bad thing, as sloths are preyed upon by Harpy Eagles and blending in with their leafy surroundings (and moving very, very slowly) makes it harder for those eagle-eyed eagles to spy them.
(image via: ABDN)
Sloths have evolved a symbiotic relationship with algae, as over time greener sloths would have a survival rate and therefore, more children. The hair of a sloth, when seen through a microscope, is grooved lengthwise and is very pitted, offering algae a hospitable environment.
Green Polar Bears
(image via: Anita)
Polar Bears in their natural habitat appear white, light tan or – in older individuals – very pale yellow. It’s only when they are kept in captivity that another shade rears its ugly head.
(images via: 2Zod, Greenpacks and Sydney Morning Herald)
Zoos in warmer, humid countries like Japan have had problems controlling algae growth on their resident Polar Bears. This isn’t a problem for the bears, though visitors to these zoos may be surprised and concerned by the sight of green bears. The algae issue is different from that of green sloths: the sloths encourage algae growth while the bears are unable to prevent it.
(image via: Anorak)
Algae aside, Polar Bears aren’t actually green but they aren’t white either, they just look that way because their transparent hairs are hollow, trapping light (and heat). If one really wants to be particular, it could be said that Polar Bears are black: without their hair, the bears’ skin is visibly very dark brown to black in color.
Green Transgenic Animals
(image via: Daily Mail UK)
From fruit flies to fish to man’s best friend, a ghostly green glow shines out from a gaggle of genetically modified animals – and you can guess who’s next. You might ask, what’s the point of getting animals to glow in the dark? Well, that eerie green (or sometimes red) glow acts as both a test to see if the introduced gene has “took”, and a marker to indicate whether another gene has been incorporated successfully by the host creature.
(images via: The Viewspaper, Times Online, Freewebs and IO9)
If the offspring of so-called transgenic animals also glow, researchers know that the new gene has been passed on to the next generation. Much easier to just shine a UV light then to kill the animal to perform lengthy diagnostic tests.
(images via: Times Online and Kirmizibaykus)
The genes used in these tests typically come from bioluminescent animals like jellyfish. Often, there’s no way to tell if a creature is transgenic until the UV light is turned on. In other cases the odd greenish tint is obvious to the naked eye under normal lighting conditions. The possibilities of this type of research are very exciting, not to mention, er, colorful.
Bonus Green-ness: Little Green Men (and Women)
As mentioned, these experiments are paving the way for radical new medical treatments humanity will benefit from in the future. One wonders, though, if side-effects from gene transfer research will have us, like today’s transgenic animals, glowing green as well.
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Here’s a piece one of our writers, Beth Mann, submitted to Open Salon about the miracle elephant, Mr. Shuffles:
Mr. Shuffles is a miracle elephant.
After almost 2 years in his mother’s womb, the vets could find no vital signs and he was presumed to be stillborn.
At a press conference, the staff at Taronga Zoo in Australia announced the sad news.
Katharina Theodore was one of the first keepers in the elephant barn the morning after Porntip, the mother elephant, gave birth.
“We went to greet all the elephants, walked up to Porntip and she didn’t react at all.” Theodore said.
“She seemed to be in a stupor and so I started to cry literally. I noticed blood on her legs and the bulge that was holding the calf was missing. So Gary and I walked into the paddock and we found a calf.
“I was kind of happy that at least she’d expelled the calf and I was thinking that’s great, we can move on and look after her.
“And then, mind-blowingly enough, the calf raised its head.”
20 vets and keepers quickly went to work, round the clock, administering to the calf who they feared suffered brain damage.
When Mr. Shuffles was well enough to take his first steps, they were heavy and unsure, like that of an old man, hence the nickname “Mr. Shuffles.”
He was officially renamed Pathi Harn in a ceremony held by Buddhist monks to celebrate his Thai culture. This caused a minor uproar online (by people like me) who really, really like his nickname.
Parthi Harn is the Thai word for miracle.
Pathi Harn is getting stronger day by day, feeding heartily from his mother and playing with his cousin, Luk Chai .
And while his beautiful Thai name reflects his regal status which he rightfully deserves, he will always be known as Mr. Shuffles to many.
He’s a little wide-eyed and goofy – a creature who has gone through something. A creature who is happy to be alive.
Follow Mr. Shuffles on Twitter.
Sources:
Brisbane Times
ABC News Australia
Beth
All of your instincts may be screaming for you to avoid looking down at all costs, but when you’re this high in the air, the view is just irresistible. Whether you’re clinging for dear life to a rickety wooden rainforest observation tower or staring straight down through a glass floor at city streets thousands of feet below, frighteningly tall spires and lookouts give us humans a look at our environment that our ancestors would never have imagined possible.
CN Tower, Toronto, Canada
Do you trust a piece of glass about the thickness of two fingers to keep you from crashing thousands of feet to the ground below? Toronto’s CN Tower, which stands over 1,815 tall, offers stunning 360-degree views of the city – and a stomach-turning view straight down to the street through a glass floor.
Forest Tower, Schovenhorst Estate, Netherlands
The thoroughly modern Forest Tower is just as visually stunning as the views it provides of the conservation area at the Schovenhorst Estate in the Netherlands. The design includes spaces and features for various activities including peepholes, a climbing net and even a small performance space.
Willis Tower Skydeck, Chicago, Illinois
If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to float 110 stories over Chicago, the Skydeck at the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower is the closest you’re likely to get. With a glass floor and glass walls on three sides, these “glass balconies” provide unparalleled views that will give the acrophobic nightmares.
Bird Watching Towers, Ecuadorian Amazon
There’s no way to enjoy the birds of the Amazon quite like observing them from one of Ecuador’s many extremely tall bird watching towers – if you’re brave enough to climb them. But finally getting to the top and finding it twisted from the wind and held together with a string, like one traveling couple did, might be enough to sway your confidence in the structure’s sturdiness.
Eureka Skydeck, Melbourne, Australia
Like the Willis Tower Skydeck, Eureka Skydeck 88 in Melbourne, Australia offers views you just can’t get anywhere else in the city. But, it’s not for the faint of heart. 940 feet above the ground, “The Edge” is a glass cube that juts out nine feet from the building. It’s the highest public vantage point in a building in the Southern Hemisphere.
Korkeasaari Lookout Tower, Helsinki, Finland
The shell-like wooden Korkeasaari Lookout Tower at Helsinki’s Korkeasaari Zoo mimics the large natural enclosures that the animals are held in, and is made of 72 long curved wood battens fastened with over 600 bolted joints. Ville Hara’s concept for the tower was the winning entry in a competition to design an innovative, artistic tower for the zoo.
Blackpool Tower ‘Walk of Faith’, Lancashire, England
With a design inspired by the Eiffel Tower, the 518ft Blackpool Tower in Lancashire, England was constructed in 1894 after Blackpool Mayor John Bickerstaffe visited the Great Paris Exhibition. Among its most popular features is the “Walk of Faith”, a glass floor panel added in 1998.
Burj Dubai Observation Deck, Dubai, UAE
Set to become the world’s tallest free-standig structure, Burj Dubai will feature a 124th-floor observation deck called ‘At the Top’. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls will provide unobstructed views of the city, but anyone who’s not paranoid about being swept away by a gust of wind can venture out onto the open-air deck. This mixed-use tower is set to open in late 2009.
Killesberg Tower, Stuttgart, Germany
This double-helix shaped tower in Stuttgart, Germany features what are essentially two gigantic intertwined spiral staircases suspended by cables around a central support. Getting to the top is no easy feat, but the reward is great.
Shanghai Expo Tower, China
A 495-foot tall chimney at the oldest power plant in China is getting a dramatic makeover for the World Expo 2010. It is set to be transformed into an observation tower called the “Expo Harmony Tower”, its exterior wrapped with tracks and cars similar to a rollercoaster to transport passengers to the top. The entire former high-pollution plant is being revamped into an eco-friendly attraction that uses electricity generated by tide, wind and solar energy.
Glasgow Tower, Scotland
The tallest tower in Scotland is also the only tower in the world that can rotate 360 degrees from its base to its top. It’s shaped like an aerofoil, or an airplane wing seen in cross-section, and has computer-controlled monitors that turn it in the wind to reduce wind resistance.
Green Observation Towers Concept
Could we replace smokestacks with eco-friendly, green power-generating towers that also serve as public spaces with observation decks? Designer Michael Jantzen thinks so, and has created several designs that would do just that. The Wind Turbine Observation Tower has five wind-activated segments that rotate in different directions to produce energy, while the Eco-Tower is a public gathering space equipped with seven platforms and a custom wind turbine.
Cheongna City Tower, South Korea
South Korea is getting a new landmark tower that will serve as the cultural hub and centerpiece of a large new town development. The 1,476-foot observation tower appears to jut sharply into the sky like an inverted icicle, with the second-highest observation deck in the world. It’ll also be pretty high-tech, becoming the world’s first “invisible tower” with a skin system that uses optical cameras to capture the views from the opposite wall and project those images on each part of the skin. This effect will make the tower itself seems to disappear when you’re inside, leaving nothing but sweeping views.
Steph
Sun, sand and heat are the basic recipe for any amazing desert but like any creative cook, Mother Nature reaches for the spice to make things extra nice. These 10 desert delights are most definitely a treat for the eyes, though being stranded in any one of them might not be to your taste.
Kebira Crater Field, Egypt and Libya
(images via: RST, Meta-Religion and Robert Kenneth Johnson)
Archaeologists over the centuries have wondered where the ancient Egyptians came by the beautiful yellow-green glass found in their most exquisite royal jewelry. The answer, it seems, is outer space… by way of a huge meteorite that blasted the Sahara sands into glass many thousands of years before the pyramids were a glimmer in Pharaoh’s eye. Out in the trackless wastes where the borders of Egypt and Libya meet lies an eroded crater and around it; pebbles, nuggets and boulders of translucent glass created when the interplanetary visitor slammed into the sands, instantly vitrifying them.
(images via: JAXA)
It’s estimated the Kebira Crater Field – more than one crater has been discovered – is about 28.5 million years old, with the largest intruder measuring about 3/4 mile (1.2 km) across. The energy released must have been in the order of 100,000 megatons.
Fraser Island, Australia
(images via: Travelblog and Rieckborn)
“If you were marooned on a desert island…” now what’s up with that? All those Crusoe types didn’t have much of a “desert” to contend with (beyond the beach, anyway), just the opposite in fact: lush tropical vegetation, forests of palm trees and so on. Where are the real desert islands? One candidate is Fraser Island, just off the eastern coast of Australia near the city of Brisbane. At 76.5 miles (123 km) long, Fraser Island is the world’s largest “sand island”. It does boast rainforests but they grow in sand, not soil. The surrounding seas are said to be rife with hungry sharks and deadly jellyfish, so you’d might as well stay on shore… listening to your selection of Desert Island Discs.
(image via: Elvis Payne)
What an actual Desert Island might look like – taken in or around Dubai by Elvis Payne, this timeless scene of a lone palm on a blindingly white sand beach gives one pause… and gives one minimal shelter from the searing Persian Gulf sun.
Monument Valley, Utah, USA
(images via: Wikipedia, Vegas-Dreaming, Norman Koren and Azgenweb)
Any Hollywood Western worth its oats was filmed at least partially in Monument Valley. Situated on Utah’s southern border with Arizona near the Four Corners, the area is resplendent in contrasting shades rust red and blue-gray derived from different layers of rocks eroded over millions of years. Even in black & white, the valley is magnificent – some of the more spectacular buttes have been named, The Mittens, the Totem Pole, the Eye of the Sun and the Ear of the Wind arch.
(image via: Flickr: Nature’s Best)
Monument Valley is located on the Navajo Nation Reservation and the Navajo name for the valley is Tsé Bii’ Ndzisgaii (Valley of the Rocks). Though extensively eroded by wind and water, the iconic buttes and mesas in the valley look much the same today as they did when the ancestors of the Navajo first set eyes on them many millennia ago.
Atacama Desert, Chile
(images via: Go Chile, Travel By GPS and Grassroots Adventures)
Sheltered from the rains by the Andes and influenced by coastal inversions created through interaction with the chill Humboldt Current, Chile’s Atacama Desert is widely recognized as being the driest desert in the world – 50 times drier than California’s Death Valley! The regions extreme aridity has allowed mummies left by the ancient Incas (including “Miss Chile” above) to exhibit a remarkable degree of preservation.
(image via: A Byte of News)
The Atacama may be both isolated and hostile to humanity, but that doesn’t mean it remains untouched by the hand of Man… literally. This monumental sculpture of a human hand rising out of the desert sands was created by Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrazabal and stands 11 feet tall. “Mano de Desierto”, or Desert’s Hand, is located about 46.5 miles (75 km) south of the city of Antofagasta, Chile.
Namib Desert, Angola and Namibia
(images via: Wikipedia and Trees Never Meet)
Hundreds of miles south of the Sahara lies one of Africa’s oldest and most beautiful deserts, the Namib. Like the Atacama, the Namib Desert’s exceptional dryness results from an offshore cold current that induces the constant descent of dry air. Currently the Namib receives a mere 1/2 inch of rain annually and it’s been this way for the better part of the last 55 million years. The Namib is in many ways a “living desert”, constantly changing its appearance due to huge roving dune fields driven by howling desert winds.
(images via: Namibia Safari and Grandpoohbah)
Where it meets the South Atlantic ocean, the Namib is often obscured by thick, impenetrable fogs that bring some moisture to the hardy plants and animals that live there. The fogs have also been the bane of seafarers for centuries, leading to innumerable shipwrecks and the forbidding name, Skeleton Coast.
Tabernas Desert, Spain
(images via: Rezoom and Getty Images)
A desert, in Europe? It’s not only more likely than you think, it’s actually there, in Spain. The Tabernas Desert in the Spanish province of Almeria is cut off from humid winds off the Mediterranean Sea by several long mountain ranges and receives a searing 3000 hours of sunlight annually. The area receives about an inch of rain every year, most of which arrives in the form of sudden downpours that have caused picturesque erosion and rugged badlands.
(image via: Cuellar)
The Tabernas Desert has often been used for location shooting of so-called Spaghetti Westerns including The Magnificent Seven and Sergio Leone’s 1966 masterpiece, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
(image via: Trekearth)
Far north of Almeria in the province of Navarre, Las Bardenas Reales is another Spanish desert so distinctive that it’s been selected to be a UNESCO World heritage site.
Empty Quarter, Saudi Arabia
(images via: Virtual Tourist, Duneguide and Stylefrizz)
The Rub’ al Khali, or Empty Quarter, is one of the most forbidding deserts on earth. Daytime temperatures approaching 131°F (55°C ) and sand dunes towering 1,100 feet (330 meters) high make the Empty Quarter no fit place for man or beast.
(image via: Platform Zero)
The Rub’ al Khali was not always such an extreme environment and in ancient times a series of desert oasis’ allowed trading caravans to traverse its wide open plains. Rumors of “lost cities” have echoed through time and several have been found using high-tech imaging equipment aboardthe Space Shuttle and NASA’s Landsat satellites. One such city is Ubar, the “City of a Thousand Pillars”, estimated to have thrived from 3,000 BC until the first century AD.
Khongoryn Els (”Singing Sands”), Mongolia
(images via: Duneguide and Boston.com)
The Singing Sands of Khongoryn Els are located in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park in southern Mongolia. The dunes really do “sing” – the movement of trillions of tiny sand grains against one another under pressure of the wind results in sounds variously described as roaring, booming, barking and even squeaking. The sound is only audible under certain conditions with the size & roundness of the grains, the humidity of the sand, and the sand’s silica content being the most relevant.
(image via: 123People)
Khongoryn Els isn’t easy to get to – which is part of their attraction – and the area is home to rare wildlife such as the Gobi Camel and the snow leopard.
Death Valley, California, USA
(images via: UND, Destination360 and Marc Adamus)
No post on amazing deserts would be compete without mentioning Death Valley. Aptly named for its lack of water and sweltering heat – the temperature at Furnace creek reached 134°F (56.7°C) in 1913 – Death Valley is the lowest point in North America and the second-lowest in the world.
(image via: George Bell)
The depth of the valley produces a convection oven effect on hot days with superheated air becoming trapped within the valley and circulating into any shaded areas.
(images via: Mystic Bren and Gconnect)
By all accounts the most mysterious part of Death Valley is The Racetrack, a flat dry lakebed that features dozens of “sailing stones” of various sizes at the ends of tracks sometimes hundreds of feet long. The tracks are sometimes straight, occasionally sinuous and in some cases reverse themselves. These aren’t mere pebbles either: one sailing stone, dubbed “Karen” by researchers, weighs over 700 pounds!
Antarctica’s Dry Valleys
(images via: Ross Sea and GDargaud)
Deserts, technically, don’t have to be hot; just dry. A series of valleys near Antarctica’s Ross Sea have been virtually ice-free for 2, 3, perhaps 12 million years! On “warm” summer days, glacial rivers flow into ice-covered lakes, freeze solid at night, then flow again the next day. Mostly though, ice and snow sublimates directly into the exceedingly dry air blowing out of central Antarctica; to the point where glaciers dry out before reaching the sea. These so-called “katabatic” winds have sculpted rocks in the Dry Valleys into bizarre shapes somewhat resembling the arches and hoodoos of much hotter deserts. The Dry Valleys are so unlike more typical earthly environments that researchers consider them suitable analogs for studies of Mars.
(image via: Virginia Butler)
The extreme dryness of the air and the lack of rain or snowfall in the Dry Valleys acts to preserve any organic matter for startlingly long periods of time. Freeze-dried by the katabatic winds and then slowly sandblasted away, the corpse of the seal above will someday be worn completely away though that could take thousands of years!
Our planet is blessed (or cursed, depending on one’s point of view) with an abundance of deserts, each offering unique environments and scenic vistas that are in many cases, out of this world. The 10 amazing deserts described above are, to mix metaphors, just the tip of the iceberg and you can expect a future showcase to disclose more of the hot, the dry and the sandy!
Steve
Whoever said the underworld was a bad, scary place never visited some of these spectacular, cool caves! Formed over thousands, in some cases millions of years, these formerly hidden natural wonders are finally revealing their beauty to those who always thought heaven was someplace above.
Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA
(images via: Amazing Nature and Encyclopedia Britannica)
Mammoth Cave is one of the oldest and most well-known cave complexes in the USA. It’s also the longest cave system in the world with 365 miles of subterranean passageways. Having been made a national park in the summer of 1941, Mammoth Cave was discovered by American settlers in the late 18th century but was known to local native tribes for thousands of years. Highlights of Mammoth Cave include a giant sinkhole called Cedar Sink, and rather self-descriptive features dubbed Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara and Fat Man’s Misery.
(image via: CardCow)
The above postcard showing the Hindu temple and Onyx Temple formations in Mammoth Cave must be very old, as the reverse indicates the sender should affix a 1-cent stamp.
Lascaux Caves, France
(images via: Darci Adam and HubPages)
The cave complex at Lascaux, in the Dordogne département of southwestern France, host some of the most magnificent prehistoric cave paintings yet discovered. Rendered in natural pigments and estimated to be 16,000 years old, the many hundreds of images in the caves depict some of the Ice Age creatures that were sources of fascination – and food – for the early modern humans who inhabited the area.
(image via: NationMaster)
The largest images located in the spectacular Great Hall of the Bulls measure up to 17 feet in length! Though we all can enjoy these incredibly lifelike depictions of paleolithic life by way of the Internet, it’s unfortunate that the caves themselves are now virtually off limits to tourists and even researchers due to a destructive fungus that has attacked the paintings. Even when removed, the damage is obvious and, at the present time, irreparable.
Galos Salt Caves, Chicago
(images via: TIME, DayLife and Nelswadycki)
Deep beneath Jolly Inn Banquets in Portage Park, Chicago, colored lights illuminate a scene few would expect to set their sights upon. Once an East European secret, the benefits of salt cave siestas have arrived in suburban Chicago. At Galos Caves visitors relax on incongruous lawn chairs, surrounded by salt stalactites and breathing in salt-saturated air while recorded seaside sounds soothe the psyche.
(image via: The Thief)
So-called “salt therapy” has legions of adherents who abide by the healing properties of natural salt. Whether it’s the salt itself, the iodine compounds within it or just the relaxing atmosphere inside a salt-lined cave, who can say? Well, owner Ewa Chwala can say – watch her do just that in the following video:
A visit to Galos Spa, via johnandmaddie39
Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, USA
(images via: Encyclopedia Britannica and Life In The Fast Lane)
Carlsbad Caverns is perhaps the most spectacular “classic” natural cave complex in the USA. Discovered accidentally by Jim White in the late 1890s, the cavern complex includes the Big Room, the second-largest cave chamber in the world. This huge, echoing natural limestone chamber is nearly 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) long, 625 feet (190.5 meters) wide and 350 feet (107 meters) high. Unlike many limestone caves, Carlsbad Caverns was carved out not by underground streams or mild carbolic acid but by strong sulfuric acid formed due to the close proximity of oil and gas deposits.
(image via: National Park Service)
Young local cowboy Jim White discovered Carlsbad Caverns from a distance when he espied from horseback what appeared to be a “volcano” of bats spiraling out from the cave entrance. At its peak, the population of bats residing in Carlsbad Caverns was estimated to be in the millions.
Ice Caves, Antarctica
(images via: WebEcoist and Wikimedia)
Antarctica’s Mount Erebus is, literally, the hottest thing in Antarctica and when piping hot meets icy cold, strange things happen. One result of Erebus’s steam heating are towering ice fumaroles and spacious ice caves.
(image via: World Oceans)
Then there is the oddly named Erebus Ice Tongue, a glacier that flows down the mountain’s flanks and into the frigid Ross Sea where interaction with waves and sea ice creates temporary ice caves of stunning beauty.
Kartchner Caverns, Arizona, USA
(images via: Terrain and University of Arizona)
Kartchner Caverns, which runs for over 2 miles beneath the desert sands around Benson AZ, was sealed off from the surface for about 200,000 years until one day in 1974, Randy Tufts and Gary Tenen became the first human beings to set foot inside. The cave system, which was designated Kartchner Caverns State Park in 1999, is exceedingly fragile and its existence was kept secret from all but a few until proper guardianship could be put in place to protect the exquisite formations inside.
(image via: California Literary Review)
The spindly formation above, called Soda Straws, is composed of hollow tubes that incessantly drip from the cavern ceiling. Each drop deposits a minuscule amount of minerals onto the end before falling to the cave floor. Considering that each “straw” grows by just 1/10 of an inch per CENTURY and the longest straw in the cavern is just over 21 feet long, well, you could do the math but I’ll make it easy by saying the Kartchner Caverns straws have been growing undisturbed for a good couple hundred thousand years!
Thylacoleo Caves, Australia
(images via: MuseumVictoria, Western Australian Museum, TV and Film Guy and Paleochick)
In 2002, an expedition from the Western Australian Museum set out to investigate reports of large skeletons in several caves out in the country’s forbidding desert wasteland, the Nullarbor Plain. Among the remains of dozens of extinct Australian megafauna dating back over 500,000 years were the first complete skeletons of Thylacoleo Carnifex – the Marsupial Lion – ever discovered.
(image via: BeingFrank)
Thylacoleo must have been a terrifying predator to behold, and having one drop in on you while exploring an Australian desert cave would rate rather high among any caver’s list of “what’s the worst that could happen”.
Cave Of The Swallows, Mexico
(images via: Rockhoppers Daily Grind and Kayak Huasteca)
At 1,200 feet deep, the Cave Of The Swallows (Sotano de las Golondrinas, in Spanish) in central Mexico is deep enough to, er, swallow the Empire State Building. It’s also conical in cross section with the base wider than the top. The cave was only explored recently, in the 1960s.
(image via: CHW)
Here’s a MUST SEE video narrated by David Attenborough showing what have to be the world’s most insane BASE jumpers leaping into the Cave Of The Swallows. Once you’ve done this (and lived), what else is there?
Sotano De Las Golondrinas, via garydelarosa
Cave Bacon
(images via: 1Sock, Trip Advisor, UT Grotto and California Literary Review)
No, not Bacon Cave, Cave Bacon… because face it, what self-respecting internet posting these days doesn’t pay homage to that most versatile (and delicious) member of the Pork food group? In any case, “cave bacon” is another, tastier word for layered flowstone formed by the incremental deposition of water-borne minerals along a repeated route. Variations in surface rainfall, mineral balance and other hydrological cum speliological phenomena can affect both the speed and the content of the water moving over the flowstone, leading to layering effects that remind some (heck, ALL) of bacon.
(image via: Diamond Caverns)
Imagine falling into a cave and, after several fruitless, foodless days have passed, finding THIS hanging over your head? Found in Kentucky’s Diamond Caverns, the calcite drapery formation above stimulates both imaginations and appetites along the New Discovery Passage.
Cave Of Crystals, Mexico
(images via: Environmental Graffiti, Life In The Fast Lane and CubeMe)
One of the world’s most magnificent caves is also one of the newest to be discovered. In April of 2000, miners at the Naica Mine in Chihuahua, Mexico, stumbled onto a vast, water-filled cave while exploring for lead and zinc. Upon pumping out the mineral-rich, extremely hot water from the underground space, the miners were amazed to find a fantastic lattice of gigantic Selenite crystals measuring up to 40 feet long and weighing as much as 55 tons!
(image via: Mystic’s Thought Garden)
Here’s a short video on the Cave Of Crystals:
Cueva de Los Cristales, via johnnygbc
Since the hot supersaturated solution flooding the Cave Of Crystals (or Cueva de los Cristales in Spanish) has been drained, the crystals will not grow any larger. On the bright side, the cave’s 43°C (109°F) plus temperature and 90 to 100 percent humidity ensures that unprotected intruders won’t stay long.
Through the modern technological marvels of video and photography, Earth’s deepest, darkest secrets are at last being revealed. In the case of these truly amazing caves, however, exposure only magnifies their mystery and wonder!
Steve
This story is a great lesson in putting your troubles aside to help someone else. Not always the easiest task, but giving to someone else when you’re in distress can be a great equalizer.
Brian Tapp, a 59-year-old florist from Sydney, Australia, had just been evicted from his shop. One morning last month, as he made a final trip to his flower shop to collect his possessions, he happened to spot a wallet and passport lying by the side of the road.
Most people in his position would be too miserable to give a second thought to helping someone else out. But Tapp put his own troubles aside to help out a stranger, pulling over to pick up the loose belongings before they were run over or stolen. Along with the wallet and passport, Tapp discovered an itinerary for a flight to Bali—which was due to leave in less than two hours.
“‘The first thing I noticed was that the owner of the passport was on a flight leaving at midday,” Tapp told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It was 10:15 when I found it, and I just thought, ‘This bloke’s going to be at the airport in a bit of a state. So I’ll see if I can find him.’”
The would-be traveler, Adam Morison, hadn’t realized that he’d lost his wallet and passport until he’d arrived at the airport, and was devastated by the mistake. By the time Tapp contacted the airline, Morison had turned around to head back home, his hopes of a surfing holiday dashed. But, while driving home, he received a call from the airline, letting him know that a Good Samaritan had found his possessions and was driving to the airport to deliver them to him in person. Morison turned his car around again, and sped back to the airport.
When he pulled up, he found Tapp, “this angel with a beard,” he said. “I still can’t believe it. I’m a perfect stranger, and he’s having a shocking day, yet he’s picked up my passport, my wallet, all my stuff, found a way of contacting me, and has gone out of his way to make sure I get my flight.”
Thanks to Tapp’s good deed, Morison made his flight after all—but Tapp’s work still wasn’t done. When Morison noticed that some of his cash and cards were missing from his wallet, Tapp returned to the road where he’d found it. Remarkably, they were still lying there. “I found the money, a Medicare card, a MasterCard, and his barrister’s identification card,” said Tapp. Though Morison had already departed for Bali at that point, Tapp mailed the items to Morison’s home.
Morison still can’t believe that Tapp would go to so much trouble to help a total stranger, and is now trying to return the favor by helping Tapp pick up more customers for his floral business. But for Tapp, there’s nothing unusual about his generous deed: ‘‘It’s what I’d expect anyone to do,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m a person who really hates losing things, so I can put myself in the place of the owner.
“It’s just the way I was brought up, I suppose.’’
Source: Gimundo.com
Good Samaritan … Brian Tapp, left, found Adam Morison’s wallet and passport and rushed them to the airport so he could catch his flight in time Photo: Dallas Kilponen
Beth
