• Tagged alien-looking landscape, bizarre, dragon's blood trees, environment, island, Island of Bliss, nature, Socotra, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Yemen

Enter a different dimension at Socotra, an unusually peculiar-looking world that was long ago called “The Island of Bliss.” Located off the Horn of Africa, in the Indian Ocean, Socotra is about 150 miles away from Somalia and the threat of real-day pirates; it’s a little over 200 miles away from its mainland Yemen. And the landscape makes it “the most alien-looking place on Earth.” Although Socotra has wide sandy beaches rising to limestone plateaus full of caves, some 4.4 miles in length (7 km), wind-swept cliffs and mountains over 5,000 feet high, the island’s iconic image is of the Dragon’s Blood tree; it’s deep red resin was once considered to be ancient dragon blood. Some people have suggested that Socotra might have been the original Garden of Eden. Currently every single Trip Advisor tourist review rated Socotra as “excellent.” Of course, there are high security threats like kidnapping and terrorism; the US State Department warned Americans against traveling to Yemen. In 2011, Somali pirates were using the island as a fuel base. Yet tourists call it a “hidden gem” for those adventurous souls not seeking a luxury resort. Most of us will never visit this out of this world island of Socotra. [42 Photos]

• Tagged animals, fish, leafy sea dragon, pipefish, scuba diving photography, seadragon, seahorse, underwater photography, weedy sea dragon

If you don’t live near an ocean or urban aquarium or even a zoo, then you might not have seen many seahorses and seadragons to realize how stunning these tiny sea creatures are. With a long face like a horse, they have an almost mythical appearance, but are far from immortal as none of the seahorse family are strong swimmers and they often die during storms. They excel at camouflage and many can change colors to hide themselves in their natural underwater surroundings. There are declining numbers as these creatures are used in Asian herbal medicines. Bizarrely, for seahorses, leafy and weedy sea dragons and even pipefish — a relative — males are responsible for childbearing. Here are some fun facts and sensational shots of these tiny “sea monsters” that are truly spectacular! [60 Photos]

• Tagged Caño Cristales, Columbia, liquid rainbow, most beautiful river in the world, nature, phenomenon, river, river of five colors, river that ran away from paradise

A river in Columbia is beautifully exotic and home to a natural phenomenon that earned it many complimentary names like ‘the river that ran away from paradise.’ You can only visit the Caño Cristales river from July to December. Within that time frame is a shorter period when the conditions are perfect to cause blooms in the water that showcase a ‘liquid rainbow’ of ‘yellow, green, blue, black, and especially the red of the Macarenia clavigera.’ During the rest of the year, the water looks like any other river, surrounded by fantastic rock formations that are so steep they are said to hide away the view of numerous waterfalls and natural swimming holes. The rock formations look remarkably similar to Moon Valley in beautiful Brazil, but Rio Caño Cristales has been bestowed with many titles such as “The River of Five Colors,” “The Liquid Rainbow”, “the river that ran away from paradise,” and even “The Most Beautiful River in the World.” [37 Photos]

• Tagged glasswing butterfly, glasswinged butterfly, glasswings, Greta Oto, insects, macro photography, nature, transparent butterfly

Nature has better tricks than even Photoshop, as these translucent glasswing butterflies illustrate. [42 Fabulous Photos]

• Tagged animals, de-extinction, dinosaurs, Dodo, extinct animals, flightless birds, Jurassic Park, Mastodon, paleontology, Quagga, saber-tooth tiger, science, Steller's sea cow, T-Rex, woolly mammoth

Resurrection of extinct species is no longer science fiction, according to National Geographic in an article about de-extinction. If the science is there, should we bring animals back into living, breathing specimens? But even if they can bring these animals back from extinction, should they? Is it playing God, or the utilization of science? With the Jurassic Park movie coming out 20 years later in 3D, our first thought was a what-if they could create it for real? However even if successful, there is still not the science to eventually give into temptation, resurrect dinosaurs and recreate Jurassic Park. Revive & Restore says it is “working with de-extinction scientists worldwide to build a roster of potentially revivable species.” These are the candidates . . . with a few dinosaurs and Jurassic Park movie clips tossed in just because they are cool. [30 Photos, 5 Videos]

• Tagged Bakharden Cave, bizarre, camels, Darvaza, Darvaza Gas Crater, Derweze, Door to Hell, Great Kyz Kala, Karakum Desert, Kow Ata, Merv, phenomena, Silk Road, Turkmenistan, underground sulphur lake

Out in the middle of a hot, dry Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, along the ancient Silk Road, Soviet-era scientists found a cavern of natural gas and started drilling. But the drill hit another pocket in the cavern, right before the ground collapsed, and the entire drilling rig disappeared into the huge Darvaza Gas Crater. Then poisonous gas started to pour out. So what did the scientists decide to do in order to avoid a potential environmental disaster? Burn it off. Genius! That was in 1971, but the flaming natural gas crater is still burning 42 years later. The locals dubbed it, “The Door to Hell.” Derweze can also be spelled Darvaza and that translates to “gate,” so it is sometimes referred to as “Hell’s Gate” or the “Gates of Hell.” [35 Photos]

• Tagged animals, black lions, exotic big cats, jaglion, leopons, liger, liliger, lion hybrids, lions, tiglons, tigons, white lions

From mythical black lions, lions made black by mud, to marvelous white lions and mystical lion hybrids, here’s a look at what is myth and what real . . . even if some of these lion hybrids seem like they might not be real like ligers, tigons, jaglion, leopons, and lil-ligers. [49 Photos]

• Tagged algae, algal blooms, bioluminescence, ecosystem, environment, harmful algal blooms, phenomena, phenomenon, Red Tide, science

While you might not stop to think on it, water is full of algae and aquatic microorganisms that play a vital role in marine and fresh-water ecosystems. Not all algae is harmful, but when microscopic algae grows too quickly, then it can cause a phenomenon commonly called “red tide.” Scientists prefer the term algal blooms. Not all of these “red tide” algal blooms are red or dangerous, some even appear to glow with bio-luminescence, but harmful algal blooms can poison shellfish, fish or other wildlife. It’s no longer cool to call these “red tides” because red tides are very often not red; many have no discoloration at all. Red tide also is not the same thing as the wide variety of algal bloom species that are often mistakenly called red tides. Yet when the water appears blood red, which is rare, and dead fish are floating on the surface or the beach, then it freaks people out and rumors start flying about the “end of the world.” There are varying opinions about if it is “safe” to swim in a “red tide” which often comes in a rainbow of algal bloom colors . . . and shades of harmful algal bloom. Would you swim or fish in these waters? [38 Photos]

• Tagged aerial of heart shapes, giant hearts, heart lakes, heart shapes, heart-shaped woods, hearts in nature, holiday, man-made hearts, Valentine's Day

In part one, 38 Great Hearts in Nature, we saw that there are heart shapes all around us if only we take the time to notice. There are also hundreds of giant hearts all over the Earth’s surface, but you must be looking down from above to see the heart shapes. This is a collection of giant heart-shaped nature-made and man-made lakes, woods, ponds as well as aerial and Bird’s eye map views hovering over the Earth’s hearts. [48 Photos]

• Tagged heart shapes, heart shapes created by nature, hearts in nature, holiday, Valentine's Day

Happy February! Valentine’s Day is in this short month and there are heart shapes all around you if only you take the time to notice. Some photographers hunt out heart-shaped nature to capture and share. Do you suppose it’s a reminder that nature loves you? Or do people in love seem to see hearts everywhere? Most of these heart shapes are easy to see without cocking your head to the side and squinting. Take the time to start finding nature sharing her heart with you. To: YOU — Love, Nature [38 Photos]

• Tagged Eucalyptus deglupta, nature, rainbow, Rainbow Eucalyptus, rainbow gum, trees

Does a living rainbow exist? Yes! Extremely cool yet natural outdoor coloring can be found under the shade of this living rainbow. The Rainbow Eucalyptus is truly one of the most amazingly stunning trees and it definitely has the most beautiful bark of any tree on Earth. [36 Photos]

• Tagged bizarre, odd, strange but true places, travel and places, unusual place names

If you’ve ever lived in or visited a town with an especially peculiar name, then you’ve experienced another person giggling or snickering before asking, “No really; where are you?” There are thousands of such strangely rude street names, but many times it is a town itself with the odd name. For example, by 1994 the U.S. Geological Survey listed 60 places within the USA with ‘Hell’ in the name. Worldwide there are some extremely bizarre or otherwise unusually named towns, villages, cities, counties and even mountains. Some places are named after swear words or other controversial and offensive terms not usually mentioned in polite company. The names of some other places do not have sexual undertones in their native language, but seem that way due to the “English” pronunciation. Very often, the town experiences a high number of sign thefts. There are probably thousands of such places, but here are 69 photos of 44 unusually named places that are strange, rude, or cause a childishly funny giggle. [69 Photos]