Stunning Photos Capture The Incredible Power And Beauty Of Mother Nature

Nature is majestically beautiful and mysteriously menacing. She has the ability to make life as well as take it. Through wind, water, or wave power, Momma Nature will never truly let us forget her place at the top.

Audra Thomas will never forget 1989, when she was up close and personal with the twister that ripped through their family farm in Beaver City, Nebraska. Her bravery was unforgettable.

Though Qizai is a cute and adorable panda, he is the only brown panda left in the world. As a result, he was abandoned by his own mother and left to fend for himself in the forests of China. He was also bullied by other pandas because of his fur color. 

These Moroccan goats can be considered the greatest gravity defiers of all time due to their ability to climb trees. Their skills also apply when it comes to steep cliffs and narrow ledges.

Sailors lost at sea have reported mermaid sightings for centuries. However, it is unlikely they saw an actual half-human and half-sea creature lurking underneath the waters. 

The Oregon Undersea Gardens produced a life-like sculpture that many people found scary. It proudly displayed an octopus and a scuba diver battling each other. 

Situated off Chicago’s shoreline is Lake Michigan, considered one of the five Great Lakes. Specifically, it is the second largest. It is so big that it can alter weather patterns within the local area.

Animal advocate Steve Irwin lost his life in the Batt Reef of Australia in an accident during diving. On the 4th of September, 2006, the barbed tail of a stingray pierced his heart. Alas, the world lost a much beloved Crocodile Hunter and animal expert.

Thanks to evolution (or a comet), these large Megalodons are no longer on the face of the earth. Due to their size, they have been dubbed “killing machines” because of their ferocity. Their length could reach 60 feet while their weight could go to as much as 40,000 pounds.

Kindness knows no bounds. Taken in 1950, this picture shows a Soviet soldier handing cans of condensed milk to a hungry polar bear and its baby. It is not easy to feed a bear, but this Soviet soldier found it more important to relieve the animal’s hunger than worry for his life.

This image is of Mount Vesuvius spewing rock and ash in March 1944 during America’s WW2 campaign. This is the same volcano that erupted in 79 AD and which buried the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii.

It was unclear if this pig escaped so it could be an extra in the Babe movies or if it was just determined to avoid becoming bacon. Either way, its efforts are applause-worthy. The pig may have taken advantage of overcrowding in the truck to climb up on its comrades and jump out.

This dog knows how to pick its battles. Instead of messing with the skunk and being subjected to its stink, he begrudgingly let the creature eat his food. The dog is wise enough to know there’s a lot more where that food came from. He also decided that being sprayed by the skunk’s potent liquid would not be worth it.

Some initially thought that this picture was a frozen tsunami wave. But that is not true. This is actually blue ice – a natural phenomenon where ice becomes so thick that when light passes through it, its red wavelengths are automatically filtered out. What remains is seen by the eye as a blue-colored reflection.

This hermit crab doesn’t want to live alone. Instead, he wants to live inside a skull. Since these crabs do not have their own shells, they look for homes they can call their own by scavenging on the ocean floor. In this case, it appears that this crab decided a skull would do. 

The star-like features of this mole are actually part of its nose. This is why it is referred to as the star-nosed mole. The tentacle-like features are actually very sensitive to sensory stimulation. Referred to as Elmer’s organs, they can easily detect touch, vibrations, smells, and changes in temperature.

Good friends are hard to come by. When you find friends who are willing to risk their lives to save you from a predator, you have found your best friends forever. This image of a seagull being clutched by a hungry bald eagle is dramatic enough as it is. 

The 1976 movie Rocky was a hit not just because people loved the fight scenes or Sylvester Stallone’s swagger. One of its most popular scenes involves Rocky giving two small turtles to his girlfriend, Adrian. The turtles were named Cuff and Link. 

This tiger is actually an actor. Specifically, this animal is on the set of the 1981 movie Roar, which starred Noel Noel Marshall and Tippi Hedren. The two were a couple in real life. They included their daughter, Melanie Griffith, in the movie too.

Mammatus clouds will always make us crave marshmallows. However, they got their name because they also look like the udders of cows. Also known as mammary clouds, these are formed when cold air drops down and creates pouches within warm air convections.

This picture captures the cold and hazardous consequences of a snowstorm. The presence of ice spears is due to high winds blowing across an open space. Once the cold winds meet a structure, the air is frozen into horizontal icy tentacles. 

This kitty cat is doing its best to stay inconspicuous. Will the two Dobermans find out? Though these dogs may look scary, they are actually playful with kids and cats. Hollywood movies portray them as aggressive, but this characterization is far from the truth.

This picture of President Theodore Roosevelt riding a moose while crossing a river is jaw-dropping. It is also fake. This is an example of one of the precursors to Photoshop. The image was for a political advertisement for the presidential campaign of Teddy Roosevelt for the Progressive Party. It was published in the New York Tribune on September 8, 1912.

Three decades ago, a woman was out camping when she heard noises outside her tent. This picture shows what her camera captured that dark night. Though it looks menacing, this is actually just an adorable troop of raccoons! These creatures generally keep to themselves. They are nocturnal and have dexterous paws that look very much like tiny human hands. 

The storm clouds combined with the gorgeous sunset make this image beautiful as well as terrifying. Set in Moscow, the picture has an apocalyptic vibe. But science can explain the way water vapor is collected by clouds, creating majestic billows.

The mouth of Venezuela’s Catatumbo River regularly hosts an odd but beautiful atmospheric phenomenon. For 140 to 160 nights in a year, sharp lightning is seen for at least ten hours in this area. An average of 250 strikes occur each hour.

Seeing a magnificent sunset is one thing, but being able to capture the colorful display at the perfect time is another. This photo depicts a beautiful blend between the natural, ancient, and modern world. When seeing a scene like this, it becomes unsurprising why ancient Egyptians deemed Giza as such a special and spiritual location.

Mothers know what’s best for their kids. This spider mommy looks very busy, carrying all her little babies via a silky bundle fastened around her abdomen. No wonder her face looks a bit exhausted. She’s staring off into the distance, eyes glazed, thinking about everything on her to-do list for the day. 

These clouds are often mistaken for UFOs due to their saucer-like shape. Also called lenticular clouds, these are common atmospheric formations that occur when air traverses over a mountain.

First you see the beautiful shape of a mountain looming above some clouds. Then you see a separate photo of a winding wooded road with a gorgeous lake in the distance. However, it’s incredible to realize that this is actually one photo. The perfectly horizontal division between the lake and mountain create a compelling optical illusion.

This is a picture of a 28-foot crocodile that was captured in Queensland in 1957. It was taken down by a crocodile hunter named Krystina Pawlowski. She was originally from Poland and immigrated to Australia. 

This terrifying tornado was captured in Oklahoma City in 1898. Clearly, the photographer who took this image was prepared to face the consequences of being in the middle of a twister. At least, that appears to be the case. The truth is that this image isn’t what it seems.

Black jaguars used to be classified under a category different from standard jaguars because of their color. Now, biologists consider them to be part of the same species. Their fur is a rich, golden-black hue. 

This is a picture of lightning striking a tree. It was taken by Darren Pearson. According to him, he used a long exposure to capture the way electricity moved as lightning passed through the tree and into the ground.

Sadly, Australia’s Tasmanian tigers are now extinct. This picture shows some of the last remaining members of the species. It was taken at Hobart’s Beaumaris Zoo in 1910. Also known as a thylacine and Tasmanian wolf, these animals are actually not wolves or tigers. They are marsupials.

This remarkable image was taken in the Gulf of Alaska. The clear divide in the ocean waters is incredibly captivating and there is a scientific reason behind such contrast. Water is not always under the same exact conditions. The contrast of the two waters in the image below has to do with water density, water temperature, and salinity.

Despite being a baby, this elephant is actually massive in size. This adorable baby elephant doesn’t know what to do after falling into a manhole. Elephants take a long time to mature. In fact, 15 to 20 years is required before elephants reach adulthood. As you probably noticed, this is about the same time human babies take to grow into adults. 

The sea stars and crab in this picture are enjoying a seafood feast. A squid carcass found at the bottom of the ocean became dinner for these creatures. Nature clearly doesn’t let anything go to waste. We could learn a thing or two from these ocean critters!

This is a picture of a snake called Atretochoana eiselti. Its resemblance to a male organ has earned it many nicknames over the years, all of which are not safe for the workplace, so we won’t mention them here! In reality, this creature is not a snake at all. It is actually an amphibian that has no limbs.

The 1915 return voyage and survival story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew on Endurance was immortalized in a 2002 movie. The film told the story of how they were able to withstand the harshness of Antarctica’s frigid ice.

When you think of bats, dark and creepy creatures might come to mind, and they’re hanging upside down in a cave. However, have you heard of Honduran white bats? This fluffy creatures seen below seem absolutely adorable and non-threatening. There are only six bat species currently known that are all white in appearance.