From a magical rabbit to a fire-breathing giant: 15 stunning and at the same time simple natural wonders (16 photos)

Nature is the greatest and most brilliant artist, creating her masterpieces with impeccable precision and imagination.





She paints the world with bright colors, hides amazing creatures in the most unexpected corners of the planet and reminds us of her power with menacing splashes of the elements. Evidence of this are amazing creatures - the blood-breasted pigeon, whose plumage resembles a bleeding wound, and the Ili pika, which has received the apt nickname "magic rabbit". And if you want to dive into a sea of ​​tenderness, then it's time to visit the Japanese Hitachi Park, where millions of nemophilas open up under the sun, turning the earth into a blue cloud. Want to go on a journey through the pages of a natural fairy tale?

1. Balochistan jerboa - one of the smallest rodents on the planet



The crumbs grow up to 4.3 cm excluding the tail. They come from Pakistan and Afghanistan, lead a gregarious nocturnal lifestyle and are well adapted to life in the desert.

2. Malabar (Indian) giant squirrel - the largest species of squirrels





The bright beauties can grow up to 1 meter in length. They live in central and southern India.

3. Blue "Lava"



The Ijen volcano in Indonesia on the island of East Java is known for its bright blue "lava," which is actually sulfur fire.

The blue flames are formed when sulfur-rich gases from the volcano burn under pressure when exposed to oxygen-rich air at temperatures above 360°C.

The burning sulfur condenses into a flowing liquid that resembles blue lava. The flames can shoot up to 5 meters into the air and are most visible at night.

4. Kilauea Lava Fountain



Kilauea is located in the southeast of Hawaii and has been erupting regularly since 1983. It is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. It does not pose a danger to residential areas yet, but it has been erupting intermittently since December 23, 2024. There have been several episodes of this eruption of varying heights. The maximum height, according to eyewitnesses, exceeded 300 meters.

5. Idalus Herois with a Clown Mask



A butterfly called the "clown-faced tiger butterfly" has been discovered in Central America.

6. Japan's Blue Flower Ocean



A seaside park in Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture - Hitachi contains about 4.2 hectares of nemophila. Around the end of April, the park's fields are covered with millions of blue flowers, which are called baby blue eyes. Almost simultaneously, more than 5 million buds bloom.

7. Magic Rabbit



The Ili Pika is also known as the magic rabbit. These cute animals live in northwest China and are, unfortunately, an endangered species. According to research conducted in 2018, there are fewer than 1,000 individuals left in the wild. Among the reasons for the population decline, researchers highlight climate anomalies and human occupation of forest lands for agricultural purposes.

8. Blakiston's Fish Owl (Far Eastern Fish Owl)



This owl got its Latin name in honor of the English naturalist and ornithologist Thomas Blakiston. It lives in the forests of Japan and China. This is one of the largest species of owls in the world, if not the largest: its wingspan reaches 2 meters, and its weight exceeds 4 kilograms. This species is endangered. It is estimated that less than 2,000 individuals remain on the planet.

9. Fluttering Snowball



The Shima-enaga (or Shima-enaga) is a subspecies of the long-tailed tit that is found only on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. For its specific appearance, the Japanese have nicknamed the bird the snow fairy.

10. Pink Pineapple



Pinkglow pineapple or pink pineapple was bred in Costa Rica. The pink color of the Pinkglow variety is due to lycopene, an antioxidant substance.

11. Golden Pheasant



The Golden Pheasant is a bird of the genus Collared Pheasant, one of the most colorful representatives of the pheasant family. Golden pheasants live in the mountainous regions of central China at an altitude of up to 2000 meters above sea level, in the mountain forests of southeastern Tibet and in northern Assam.

12. Scarlet Hawaiian Flowerpecker



A Hawaiian species of passerine bird from the subfamily of Hawaiian flowerpeckers of the finch family. Also known as i'iwi, or scarlet Hawaiian honeycreeper, it is one of the most recognizable symbols of the Hawaiian Islands. The beautiful birds are critically endangered, with only 150,000 left due to habitat loss, predators, and mosquito-borne avian malaria.

13. Javan Mouse Deer



The Javan Mouse Deer, also known as the Little Deer, is the smallest ungulate and is found exclusively on the island of Java in Indonesia. They grow to about 30 centimeters tall, are solitary, and are active primarily at night.

14. The Last Molt



The last molt turned the cicada nymph into a real adult Cystosoma saundersii insect.

15. The Wounded Heart



In fact, everything is fine with the bird. The Luzon Blood-breasted Ground Dove is a bird of the genus Ground Dove, endemic to the island of Luzon, and has a striking distinctive feature - a bright red spot on its chest, resembling a bleeding wound.