Awesome Nature

Church’s Fried Chicken co-founder David Bamberger has been spending his capital and the past 41 years rehabilitating 5,500 acres of dry and overgrazed land in Texas. Selah Ranch is now filled with life, and offers tours and seminars for nature lovers of all ages.

Volcanoes and lightning working together? No thanks. Mental Floss‘ John Green returns to the salon to share some interesting and unusual tidbits about the fury and mystery of nature’s fiery earthmaking engines. Also, they really should think about renaming Iceland “Fire and Iceland.”

Pelicans grab fish by swooping into shallow water at speeds up to 40 mph. Deep Look explains how these birds have evolved to help them survive and excel in their otherwise lethal hunting technique.

Hold a floating, glowing microcosm in your hand. Simply fill the hand-blown, flat-bottomed glass orb with the included dinoflagellates and seawater to create a beautiful bioluminescent blue glow. The creatures thrive on sunlight and simple nutrients by day, and glow by night.

A cozy camping blanket and matching carry sack from Rumpl. The 50″ x 70″ water-resistant throw is printed with images of old trees captured by nature photographer Jeremy Koreski. Proceeds benefit 1% For The Planet and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

National Geographic presents brief, but nonetheless fascinating look at a carrier crab, as he stomps around the ocean floor carrying a spiny sea urchin on his back to scare off predators. A few special guests hitch a ride for their own protection too.

Incredible footage captured via drone as it flies towards an unusual development on Kalapana Hawaii, where a chunk of cliff cracked off and exposed a lava tube which now sprays a huge torrent of liquid hot magma into the Pacific. (Thanks Orion!)

We always thought a Sharknado was implausible, it turns out that a similar phenomenon really does occur in nature. BBC Earth’s Blue Planet shows us hows swarms of anchoveta fish assemble into massive swirling schools to fend off predators.

While filming the series Spy in the Wild, nature photographer John Downer came across a wild orangutan who figured out how to use a handsaw all on her own. Before you get any funny ideas about cheap construction labor, just remember how Planet of the Apes turned out.

We here in Chicago know what it’s like to walk dogs in the snow, but we can assure you it’s nothing like this winter wonderland that Ante Fabris captured as he took his husky for a walk around Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park. Damn, Mother Nature is awesome.

One of the nastiest insects around. The tiger beetle has an appetite for just about any other kind of bug it can get its gnarly pincers on, from happy little ladybugs, to spiders it has no business messing with. Some of these critters can run nearly 6mph, so there’s no escape.

We haven’t seen the entire series yet, but what we’ve seen of Planet Earth II is majestic and visually stunning. Of course, audio makes all the difference in the world, and one madman decided that the series would be much better if all the animals were screaming.

(PG-13: Language) Meet outdoorsman and scorpion expert Ashwin Ramdas. He has an ongoing web series where he talks about parks, camping and how his name is pronounced. Here he visits Periyar National Park in India, home to elephant poop and some kind of monkey.

The forests of Madagascar are home to this nearly invisible fellow. The fantastically named Uroplatus phantasticus (or U. phantasticus) is a gecko whose skin looks almost identical to the bark on the trees it dwells in, protecting it from predators.

Musician Tyler Tholl visited four Minnesota state parks – one for each season – and recorded nature sounds to form the basis for this piece. His brother, Justin captured the stunning visual accompaniment. Go fullscreen and put your headphones on for this one.

YouTuber RealLifeLore gives us a terrifying idea of just how deep the Earth’s oceans can be by pointing out some of the human and animal milestones at various depths. Good ol’ land is the bee’s knees.

WIRED looks one of nature’s stranger creations – the mudskipper, an odd little dude who’s somewhere between fish and reptile, able to crawl out of the water and walk on land, while still breathing through water it stores in its cheeks. Also, they remind us of Ren & Stimpy.

This strange and ancient looking beetle has only been spotted a couple of times in the last two centuries, but National Geographic Young Explorer Mark Wong came across this insanely rare insect crawling through the jungle in Singapore.

“In 2040, you will be able to sail over the North Pole.” Fisher Stevens’ documentary about Leonardo DiCaprio’s three-year journey to enlighten himself about climate change is currently available on National Geographic’s YouTube channel for free.

Check out some of the most jaw-dropping close ups, slow motion and tracking shots you’ll ever see in the extended trailer for BBC’s upcoming nature documentary Planet Earth II. Hans Zimmer made an original score for the film, so it will melt your eyes and ears at the same time.

BBC’s chill and beautiful nature series returns. Filmed over the course of three years, Planet Earth II used the latest camera technologies to explore “the unique characteristics of Earth’s most iconic habitats and the extraordinary ways animals survive within them.”

(LOUD) Check out this awe-inspiring, but way-too-short video captured by skydivers over New Zealand who came across not just one, but two concentric circular rainbows as they headed towards the Earth below.

“We’re knowingly doing this.” In this documentary, actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio travels around the world to speak with politicians, scientists and fellow advocates and witness first hand the effects of climate change. Premieres 10/30/16 on Nat Geo.