Floods in Thailand

Several elephants had to wade through water that has flooded the streets caused by heavy monsoon rains

Buddhist monks collect their belongings at a flooded temple in the ancient city of Ayutthaya, Thailand.

A mahout—or elephant keeper—stands on an elephant in Thailand's flooded Ayutthaya Province

Villagers paddle past an inundated leaning Buddha statue in Ayutthaya Province

A Thai mahout rides his elephant in a flooded area of Thailand's Ayutthaya province



A handicapped woman sits in a tub waiting to be transported to a hospital as flooding causes havoc October 10, 2011, in Ayutthaya, Thailand.



This general view shows part of an ancient temple -- one of a number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Ayutthaya province -- inundated with floodwaters 



The elephants are from a nearby elephant camp. Around 200 factories closed in the central Thai province of Ayutthaya because of flooding, which is posing a threat to Bangkok as well. Hundreds of people have died in flood-related incidents 



Thai mahouts ride their elephants through the flooded streets in Ayutthaya, Thailand.

breathtaking pictures on melting polar worlds

These stunning images reveal a remarkable glimpse of life at the ends of the earth.


Our melting polar worlds have been captured in breathtaking pictures by the BBC for this autumn's landmark natural history series Frozen Planet.
It is the last chance to see the world's greatest wildernesses before they change forever, according to narrator Sir David Attenborough.

Got you: An orca takes a seal and drags it into the water to drown it after a three hour team hunt in which the entire pod co-operated in order to make giant waves that washed the seal from its initial ice floe

Bear necessities: A male polar bear showing battle scars and the mate he defended from 10 suitors. Their courtship was filmed over a fortnight, capturing extraordinary intimate and tender moments

Whale of a surprise: A cameraman holding a camera on a pole in the icy Antarctic water, gets a shock when an killer whale mother and calf explode out of the water in front of his face

Target: A sea lion chases a Gentoo penguin onto land - both are like fish out of water and the sea lion struggles to make a kill

Smoking: An early-morning view of Mt Erebus, Antarctica's only continuously active volcano. The aerial crew waited eight weeks to get a clear view of the top of the volcano which was extremely treacherous to fly around

Blue lagoon: Aerial shot of a sapphire blue meltwater lake on Greenland which formed in a matter of days, but several weeks later drained into the ice sheet in a matter of hours

'The pictures captured behaviour and phenomena that had never before been recorded,' said Sir David, 85. 'Those pictures will become increasingly valuable as time passes. 
'For this may well prove to be our last chance to record, in their full splendour, these astonishing wonderlands that have existed for hundreds of thousands of years before humans reached them and which now, within a century, may change beyond recognition.'

The pictures are published in a book - the first to cover both the Arctic and Antarctic - to accompany the epic seven-part series from the team that produced Blue Planet and Planet Earth which were seen by 12 million viewers in the UK and 80 million worldwide.

Desolate: A nunatak, an exposed rocky peak, pokes through the ice sheet in Antarctica where 90 per cent of the world's ice is found and is nearly three miles thick in places

P-p-p-perishing: King penguins silhouetted at dawn on the island of South Georgia in the Falklands. They are the second largest species of penguin, weighing up to 35lbs

Killer pack: Twenty-five timberwolves led by the alpha female, travel single-file through the deep snow to save energy as they track bison on the Arctic circle in northern Canada in temperatures of -40c

In for the kill: Timberwolves forced the bison herd to stampede and picked off a yearling which fell behind after another bison ran headlong into it

Frozen Planet starts on Wednesday, October 26 on BBC1. The crew used specially-made cameras to shoot at lower temperatures than ever before.
Nearly five years in the making, awe-inspiring  freezing landscapes and the elemental forces of ice, weather and ocean are revealed in astonishing footage
The series also catalogues an intimate snapshot of some of the individual animals who fight to survive including a male polar bear that fought off ten suitors to make sure its mate would have his children.

With chapters themed by season, Frozen Planet tracks a year in the polar regions from the ‘Great Melt’ in spring to the 24-hour daylight of summer, followed by the ‘Big Freeze’ of autumn and ending with the perpetual night of winter. 

It documents, often for the first time, the behaviour of their inhabitants including the ingenious teamwork adopted by killer whales hunting other whales and seals in the Antarctic, the courtship of polar bears and the memorable hunting exploits of wolves in the far North.


Snow scene: Finland's frozen taiga forest shot in a magical light.The Taiga is the greatest forest on Earth, containing at least a third of all the world's trees

Go with the floe: A giant iceberg hundreds of metres across which would dwarf most of the world's buildings. It collapsed from Store Glacier on the west coast of Greenland

Flakey: A close-up of a snowflake which was filmed with unique macro technology developed especially for the shot

Surf dude: A Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua papua) rides the wave. The penguins are masterful surfers and were filmed at high speed as they came ashore to feed their young

Bird bath: An aerial shot of a humpback whale filmed at the largest gathering of shearwaters on the planet - 18 million off the coast of Alaska in the Aleutians

Benefiting from footage shot using the world’s most cutting-edge filming techniques, the book has extraordinary aerial views of vast frozen landscapes and animal behaviour impossible to see from the ground.

Cameramen filmed the remote interior of the Antarctic continent and the migration of whales to the polar regions. It also takes us under the ice, into the heart of glaciers and inside volcanic ice-crystal caves.

In its final chapter, Frozen Planet tells the amazing adventure stories behind making the series and discusses the unique challenges of filming in extreme cold and unpredictable weather conditions.

Swoop: The reclusive Great Grey owl is one of the largest owls in the world with a wingspan of between four to five feet. It it is often referred to as the Great Grey Ghost or Phantom of the North


Krill bill: A humpback whale dives for krill fish amidst thousands of short-tailed shearwaters in the Bering Sea off Alaska while on the seabed there are giant sponges up to 2 metres high as much as a thousand years old

Sea world: A cameraman bolts an underwater tripod to the ice ceiling to get extraordinarily stable, shots of amazing ice formations or ice chandeliers , which were inhabited by millions of tiny ice fish whose bodies were full of anti-freeze

Beautiful Snakes

 

The World's Most Beautifull Snakes Emerald Tree Boa Most species of boas are colorful like the Corallus caninus, a non-venomous snake found in the rainforests of South America. Adults grow to about 6 feet or 1.8 m in length.. They have highly developed front teeth that are likely proportionately larger than those of any other non-venomous snake. Coast Garter Snake This species of snake is called Coast Garter Snake or Thamnophis elegans terrestris have toxins in their saliva and the bite can produce mild reaction in humans. They are not considered dangerous to humans, although they excrete a foulsmelling musk when handled. Green Vine Snake This snake with pretty geometrical color pattern is also called the Long-nosed Whipped Snake or Ahaetulla nasuta is a slender green tree snake found in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar,Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The green vine snake is diurnal and mildly venomous. They are slow moving, relying on camouflaging as a vine in foliage. The snake expands its body when disturbed to show a black and white scale marking. Also, they may open their mouth in threat display and point their head in the direction of the perceived threat. Albino Burmese Python   This famous and colorful species of python, the Burmese Python or Python molurus bivittatus, is the largest subspecies of the Indian Python and one of the 6th largest snakes in the world. This snake is native to rain forest areas of Southeast Asia. The Burmese python average growing up to 5.5meters (18ft) and weighing up to 71kilograms (160lb). It continues to grow throughout life.. Morelia spilota This species of python called Morelia spilota is a large snake found in Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea. The subspecies are commonly named the Carpet and Diamond pythons. This species traps or constricts its prey until they suffocate. Bitis nasicornis This big viper known for its striking color pattern and prominent horns on its nose named Bitis nasicornis is a venomous snake found in Central Africa. It is a large and stout snake, ranging in length from 72 cmto 107 cm. Amazon Tree Boa (Corallus enydris) This brightly colored species of snake named the Amazon Tree Boa is found in Costa Rica, Panama,and northern South America, through most of Venezuela and Guyana, and south and westward through Amazonian Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Red-tailed Green Ratsnake This snake's color goes along well with the color of nature - green. Red-tailed Green Ratsnake or Gonyosoma oxycephalum is a species of snake found in the region where I live - Southeast Asia. It is a thin snake with powerful and rough scales on its bottom, which makes it ideal to move and climb trees. Its tail is red hence the name. It lives and spends its life in the trees. It feeds mostly on small mammals. Its body can grow up to 2.3 meters and its average age is 15 years.

Dog With World's Biggest Ears

Doggie Dumbo: He's the hound with the world's biggest ears that will make you believe he can fly

One look at Harbor the black-and-tan coonhound, and you’ll believe a dog can fly.

Guinness World Records has named him the possessor of the longest canine ears on the planet. His left one measures 12¼in while the right is longer at 13½in.

The breed was developed to hunt raccoons, with the long ears said to help by sweeping scents towards the nose. 

World record: Harbor the coonhound has the largest canine ears on the planet, with the left measuring 12.25inches and the right 13.5inches

But Harbor has had a lifelong struggle with his colossal ears, frequently tripping over them as a puppy and rolling down the stairs.

Now though, the purebred has grown into his lengthy lugholes, which have made him a celebrity.

 

Owner Jennifer Wert, of Boulder, Colorado, said: ‘Cars will literally stop in the street to take a closer look and get a picture.

‘Most days I forget how oddly long his ears are,’ added Jennifer. ‘He’s a phenomenon in the world and he creates smiles wherever we go.’ 

Harbor's ear-span is greater than the smallest road-legal car, which is 26 inches wide and also greater than the height of the world's shortest man, Junrey Balawing

Harbor takes the new title from Tigger (13.5 inch ears), a bloodhound from Illinois, who sadly passed away of old age two years ago.  

According to Guinness World Records 2012, Harbor’s ear-span is greater than the height of the world’s shortest man, Junrey Balawing, who is 23.5 inches tall.

His ears are also wider than the smallest road-legal car, which is 26 inches wide, and you could comfortably fit the world’s shortest dog, 6 inch long Brandy, who is also from the US, on each of Harbor’s ears twice.

The latest edition of Guinness World Records is published on September 15.

Annual Tidal Wave In China

Annual Tidal Wave In China Tidal bore engulfs hundreds of tourists on the banks of the Qiantang River in China Thousands of tourists flock to the banks of the Qiantang River in Haining, Zhejiang Province in China to watch an annual natural phenomenon. Every year a tidal surge creates a huge wave that charges up the Qiantang River with the largest reaching a height of 29.5ft, according to local media Despite warnings from the police to keep well back from the river bank, many ignored the advice and ended up being swept away by the wave One local television journalist was broadcasting a piece-to-camera when the wave engulfed her... ...and her cameraman Tropical storm Nanmadol made landfall in southern China bringing heavy rain, strong winds and high tides A tidal bore is a natural phenomenon that can occur when there is a high spring tide. The natural 'funnel' shape of the river forces the incoming tide to form a wave (or waves) that travel up the river against the direction of water flowing out to sea Tourists waiting for the wave Thousands of locals and tourists crowd the banks to watch the event Some dare to bring their vehicles close A woman attempts to outrun the flooding wave These tourists seem to be enjoying  The bore breaks over the banks of the river At least 20 people were hurt as they were swept along by the wave Helping a fallen tourist They can only be described as deredevils