Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images
From a cat bath to peeping chicks and dozing pandas, get your cuteness fix with creatures great and small.
Seagulls fly over the skies of Rome in this slow-exposure photo taken on May 2.
Photographer George Steinmetz flies a motorized paraglider over deserts around the world to capture these incredible shots, from China to Africa to Antarctica. He has been taking the stunning photos for the last 15 years, now compiled in the beautiful book 'Desert Air.'
Adventurous photographer George Steinmetz goes to extraordinary lengths to get the photos he wants, shooting from the air in a motorized paraglider he helped design. NBC's Jamie Gangel reports on how the daredevil captures his incredible images.
Justin Lane / EPA
Low clouds are seen over frost covered trees in Idaho Springs, Colo., on Nov. 26.
AFP - Getty Images
Visitors at the red beach scenic area in Panjin, in northeast China's Liaoning province, on September 30, 2012. The beach gets its name from its appearance, which is caused by a type of seaweed that flourishes in the saline-alkali soil.
AFP - Getty Images
Kristi Eaton / AP
More than 1,000 buffalo thunder across prairie land during the 47th annual Buffalo Roundup in western South Dakota's Custer State Park, Sept. 24, 2012. Event organizers estimate that more than 14,000 people attended the event.
Two-year-old Jameson Maxwell sat mesmerized Monday as nearly 1,000 bison rumbled across the prairie in western South Dakota, the massive creatures racing at speeds of up to 50 mph in the annual Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park. Full story…
Caleb Cain Marcus
Norway: Nigardsbreen, Plate I, 2011
Caleb Cain Marcus’s second monograph, A Portrait of Ice, is a series of color photographs depicting the glaciers of Patagonia, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand and Alaska.
While on a trip to Patagonia Caleb Cain Marcus began to think about the role of a horizon. “As the boat that crossed Lake Argentino swayed back and forth, I thought about the oppression created by the lack of a horizon in an urban environment and what would happen if there was no visible horizon in the open space. What would happen if it vanished?” To create a successful photograph he believes, “The preconceived line between the artist’s vision and what the subject resonates blurs until the influence from artist and subject can no longer be distinguished.”
Learn more at calebcainmarcus.com
Jim des Rivières
A Scarlet-winged Lichen Moth (Hypoprepia miniata) with a wingspread of 30 millimeters.
Press release excerpt — Winged Tapestries: Moths at Large, an exhibition of 34 striking images of moths, opens Sept. 29 at the American Museum of Natural History. The exhibition displays the arresting beauty and surprising diversity of moths from Ottawa-based photographer Jim des Rivières.
To create these larger-than-life images, des Rivières scans each moth specimen at a resolution of 4,800 pixels per inch.
With some 3.5 million specimens, the Museum’s collection of moths and butterflies is among the five largest in the world.
Learn more at the American Museum of Natural History amnh.org
Jim des Rivières
A female Luna Moth (Actias luna) with a wingspread of 101 millimeters.
Jim des Rivières
An Io Moth (Automeris io) with a wingspread of 64 millimeters.
Matt Cardy / Getty Images
Rescuers examine an endangered female fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) stranded on the beach at Carlyon Bay on Aug. 13, 2012 in St. Austell, England. The stranded whale was spotted by holidaymakers just after 5 p.m. Rescuers hoped to re-float the 60-foot fin whale, the second largest animal on the planet, however, the mammal died on the beach.
Alessandro Della Bella / EPA
A man looks for meteorites while standing on the Col du Tronc path above Verbier, Switzerland on Aug. 10, 2012. The Mont Blanc massif mountain range lies in the background of this one-second-exposure photograph.
whaleresearch.com
A baby orca whale swims with its mother on Aug. 6, 2012, off the coast of Washington state. The baby is reported to be healthy and spry.
Luke MacGregor / Reuters
Erik S. Lesser / EPA
Python hunter Edward Mercer searches through the Southern Glades area of the Everglades outside Florida City, Florida. Pictures taken March 24 and 25, 2012 and made available today.
Erik S. Lesser / EPA
Mercer searches through the vast Southern Glades.
European Pressphoto Agency reports — Meet 39-year-old Edward Mercer, one of a handful of permitted python hunters in South Florida.
Since the 1990s, non-native Burmese pythons, one of the world's largest species of snake, have been flourishing in the Everglades National Park and surrounding areas. Pet owners have been known to release the snakes into the wild, where they quickly revert to their natural state.
Crocodiles thrive as neighbors of Florida nuclear plant
Burmese pythons are voracious feeders and prey on the native wildlife of the Everglades, including American alligators, raccoons, rabbits, bobcats and many different birds. The National Park Service is concerned about the impact of the pythons on the delicate ecosystem of the area.
Mercer doesn't get paid for hunting the snakes, but says he enjoys the rush of finding and capturing the elusive, semi-aquatic pythons. To date, he has caught 26 Burmese pythons, the largest of which was 12 feet long and weighed in at 43 pounds. When he finds one, he turns it over to the state or federal wildlife authorities, depending on where it was found.
According to the Park Service, more than 1,800 Burmese pythons have been removed from the Everglades since 2002.
Erik S. Lesser / EPA
Mercer sets up an automated camera for homeowner Marty Ward in West Palm Beach. He searches for pythons in residential areas when contacted by concerned homeowners.
Erik S. Lesser / EPA
Mercer handles one of his pet Burmese pythons at his home in Tamarac. He owns seven snakes, including two pythons. Mercer was afraid of snakes until someone gave him one.
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