Awesome Nature

Photographer David Weiller captured this eyepopping macro video of the Markia Hystrix, aka the Lichen Katydid, a spiky grasshopper as it blends in brilliantly with its similarly fibrous surroundings in Costa Rica.

Jonathan Bird’s Blue World shares footage of one of nature’s odd relationships – as a hermit crab helps move a pair of anemones from her old shell to a bigger one. The anemones offer the crab protection, and the crab offers food to the anemones. (Thanks Paul!)

Stargazer Pictures recently spotted a long line of caterpillars crossing their path in Perth, Australia, each dutifully following the fuzzy larvae leading the way. This time-lapse footage speeds things up a bit for our enjoyment.

A reminder that not every encounter with a bear ends up like The Revenant. While shooting wildlife pics, this photographer was approached by a brown bear who decided to sit down right next to him. If it weren’t shot back in 2014, we’d be wondering if it were Adam Savage.

If scorpions didn’t freak us out enough already, The King of Random just taught us that these creepy desert crawlers will glow brilliantly when exposed to UV light. On second thought, maybe we won’t be moving to Arizona.

VFX and animation studio LUMATIC’s short film demonstrates the inexhaustible appetite of one of nature’s many great creatures. It starts out innocently enough, but then things escalate quickly. We’re hopeful this is just the beginning of a larger nature series.

The Revillagigedo Islands are known as Mexico’s little Galapagos – they’re small yet teeming with life, including dozens of endemic species. The Smithsonian explored the smallest island, Roca Partida, a diving spot known for its congregation of sharks, whales and more.

YouTuber matt radach shares 5 months worth of footage that captured the growth of a pumpkin from a seed into a pampered 1,223lb. boulder. The amazing part is that it won only 5th place at the 2014 Pullayup Fair; the winner was a 1,621.5lb edible asteroid.

GoPro celebrates Endangered Species Day with this documentary about naturalist Casey Anderson. About 13 years ago, Casey rescued a grizzly bear, who’s now one of his closest pals and inspired him to create a grizzly sanctuary. Quite a contrast from The Revenant.

Meteorologist Reed Timmer’s up close footage of a tornado gathering a massive amount of dust and debris within minutes on 5/7/16 in Wray, Colorado. Fortunately, only five people were injured and there were no casualties reported. 360 video here.

BBC Earth enlisted the help of audio technicians and and their fancy recording equipment to capture the sound of birds in flight, and demonstrate just how insanely quiet owls are when they fly. They pull it off thanks to their efficient, glider-like wing design.

Redditor LoafSlice’s title “Tiny Godzilla nomming on things underwater“ baited us into clicking on this, but we were pleasantly surprised to find footage that actually lived up to its promise, as these amazing reptiles strut their stuff by the Galapagos Islands.

Photographer Jason S. Ching went with the crew of the Alaska Salmon Program to check out Lake Iliamna and its neighboring streams and rivers to study the migration of sockeye salmon. The resulting imagery is both soothing and stunning.

BBC Earth Unplugged turns its macro lens on the house fly to show just how good they are at detecting impending doom, with their omnidirectional vision and fast reaction time. It’s fascinating footage, but we’re pretty sure they could have hit the fly if they tried harder.

John Downer Productions set their spherical Snowball Cam loose in the midst of a group of polar bears. The bears end up kicking around the ball for a sort of impromptu game of soccer. Clearly these bears haven’t heard that club soda can get blood out of white fur.

Look away if you don’t like creepy crawlies. You’ve been warned. Back in 2012, YouTuber gurutek was breaking down his saltwater fish tank when he discovered that a Eunice worm had been lurking beneath the gravel, where it had grown to a horrifically large size.

Aside from being nearly impossible, SciShow explains that eradicating mosquitoes would be overkill, because most species of mosquitoes don’t bite or infect us. Thankfully, scientists have been looking at ways of destroying only those harmful species.

Jim Campbell-Spickler is a wildlife biologist and forest canopy ecologist. Part of his job involves climbing into the nests of wild birds such as bald eagles and peregrine falcons to take blood samples from chicks and test them for toxins.

Blue Dog Films used a Canon 5d Mk3 to capture this incredibly ominous and awe-inspiring time-lapse footage of a storm brewing over Maroochydore, Australia, churning away like something from the ark opening scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Artist Sebastian Errazuriz created a series of beautiful wall shelves and tables that incorporate fallen tree branches from the forests of South America. The only additions are paint, glass shelves, and the occasional bit of steel to provide added support.

The man in this clip seems like a big guy, but he’s dwarfed by the size of the huge brown bear that seems to be thrilled to have human companionship. We saw this right after watching Roar, which shows why humans might not want to get so close to wild animals.

Every summer, Jesse Attanasio gets to take a few weeks off work. Over the last couple of years he spent his vacation time by traveling across North America, capturing landscape time-lapses and “inhaling experiences” along the way. Available in 4K.

While hiking at the High Tatra Mountains in northern Slovakia, YouTuber Tomas N and his friend found a wonderfully frozen lake. It was so clear it probably has gator belts and patty melts and Monte Carlos and El Dorados.