Times Nature Made Us Believe In Magic
We might take it for granted in our daily lives, but nature is truly incredible, with complex phenomena and interesting species living all over the planet. Some things, however, seem too amazing and peculiar to be real.
Here are photos of things that made us question if nature was using magic.
A Tree With A Tree Design Inside
When the person who took this photo cut down a tree in their backyard, they were surprised to find this pattern inside instead of a normal ringed pattern inside the wood.
This Is An Amazing Photograph
The person taking this photo coincidentally timed it perfectly with a strike of lightning. The difference in the two halves of the photograph is the result of using a camera with a rolling shutter: half of this photo was captured before the lightning flared up.
A Blue Bumblebee
Not all bees are yellow and black: for instance, look at the northern blue-banded bee, which is native to Australia and is also common in southern regions of Asia. Much like the bees we're accustomed to in North America, these bees are important pollinators for agriculture.
This Tree Is 170 Feet Wide
This looks like something from a fantasy movie, but it's actually the result of animals browsing, a type of herbivore eating pattern where they eat leaves from above. The almost straight line across the bottom of the foliage is because that's the highest point the animals—likely goats—could reach while eating.
There's A Whale In The Sky!
This gorgeous cloud formation was snapped in the skies over Texas. While people love to cloud-gaze and make shapes out of them, this one is strangely accurate to a humpback whale's shape.
This Is Helmcken Falls In British Columbia, Canada
This 463-foot waterfall in western Canada looks like something you'd see in The Lord of the Rings. What makes it so interesting is the ice cone that forms in the winter, which sometimes grows to be 164 feet tall!
Sunsets Are Majestic
I've never seen such a gorgeous and diverse range of colors in a sunset before in my life, especially with the different shades of blue in the sea. This beautiful photograph was taken in Turks and Caicos.
An Albino Redwood
Redwoods are some of the most majestic plants on the planet with their impressive height, but not many people know they also have albino counterparts. These albino trees, however, remain short and bush-like due to their reduced ability to photosynthesize.
Someone Call Led Zeppelin!
This cloud formation that resembles a stairway into the sky—or stairway to heaven, as some would say—seems like only magic could be responsible for it. I'm sure Led Zeppelin would get a kick out of it.
A Jewel Caterpillar
This is the caterpillar larva that will someday grow into a Dalceridae moth, a mid-sized moth with a hairy body found in neotropical areas. The larvae look like this due to a gelatinous coating that covers their exoskeletons.
A Teardrop-Shaped Egg
This person, who keeps chickens in their backyard, was shocked to find this teardrop-shaped egg in a hen's nest one morning. Sometimes, irregularly shaped eggs signal that the chicken has infectious bronchitis or egg drop syndrome, but other times they're just little accidents.
The Beach Has A Tail!
Pictured here is Whale Tail Beach in Costa Rica, which extends out into the Pacific Ocean. People are only able to see and walk on the tail part of the beach during the hours of low tide.
A Bioluminescent Termite Mound
I don't normally get excited when someone mentions termites, but this abandoned termite mound has actually been overtaken by firefly larvae, which use their light to attract mates and lure other insects to their deaths.
Touching Two Continents At Once
This photo of a diver was taken in Iceland at the Silfra Fissure, where one is able to touch underwater landmasses that form the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Imagine touching two continents at once!
A Petrified Pine Cone
This pine cone was definitely trapped in rock for thousands of years before this person came across it. It's kind of incredible to think that it looks strikingly identical to the ones we still see today.
A Bagworm Moth Caterpillar
The bagworm moth is part of a sub-type of moths called Psychidae, and also known as "case moths" due to their tendency to build cases or structures for them to hide in while they are caterpillars.
This Wasp Nest Looks Like Jupiter
Humans may never get to view the largest planet in our solar system in person during our lifetime, but at least this homeowner got a shockingly similar wasp nest approximation of it.
A Full Moon Rising Over Athens
This photo was snapped as the full moon was rising over the Parthenon. The reason that the moon looks so orange near the horizon is that there is more atmosphere at that angle for the light to get through in order to reach our eyes, allowing longer wavelength colors, like red, to be more visible.
What's The Frown For?
This is a photograph of a black rain frog, a species that is native to forested areas in South America. They naturally have short limbs, round bodies, and a seemingly permanent frown.
A Nest Of Squirrels
Have you ever seen something so wholesome and cute in your life? Oh, what I would give to be a squirrel cozily sleeping in a nest while cuddling with your closest pal.
