A Tiny Dinosaur-like Creature

Here’s one miniature alligator that looks like a shrunken dinosaur figurine. Alligator snapping turtles have spiky shells, which is the reason why they are often referred to as dinosaur-like creatures. Native to the United States, this little champ is a baby snapping turtle, but the species are the largest freshwater turtle.

Once fully grown, according to National Geographic, the reptile could weigh anywhere from 155 to 175 pounds. While a 400-pound snapping turtle was reportedly captured in 1937, the largest known is a 249-pound resident at the Chicago Shedd Aquarium. In the wild, their lifespan ranges from 11 to 45 years.

The Curious Case of the Hairless Chimp

It’s expected to see Chimpanzees full of hair, but not this well-built guy. The resident of Twycross Zoo lost his hair after suffering from hereditary alopecia. The hairless chimp became an internet sensation after being filmed in a “fight” that attracted over a million views online. Zoo officials reported that it was displaying and not fighting normal behavior for the massive apes.

The apes are known to showcase dominance while making a lot of fuss and noise. They love to charge angrily and pound their chest, as the 2015 “King Kong” film depicts. As per Live Science, chimpanzees are one of our closest living relatives, sharing 98.7% of DNA with humans.

A Lighthouse Engulfed by a Massive Wave

This picture captured the precise moment when an enormous wave swept over a lighthouse and appeared to engulf it. A closer look reveals that a man is standing at the entrance to the lighthouse, and perhaps that makes the image even more ominous. Jean Guichard is the shutterbug behind this perfectly-timed photo, and he snapped the image in 1989.

Captured around Northern France, a low pressure originating from Ireland brought about gale-force winds resulting in the swelling waves. The waves, rising to a reported 20 to 30 meters, created the picture-perfect moment, and thankfully Guichard had his photography gear at hand.

The Sacred Oceanic Dolphin

Dotting a pronounced forehead and short snub nose, the Irrawaddy dolphin is primarily found in estuaries, close to sea coasts and rivers in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and the Bay of Bengal. They are known to squirt water when herding fish. Accidental entanglement in fishing gear significantly affects the mortality of mammals that have a lifespan of around 30 years.

Lao and Khmer people native to Southeast Asia and Cambodia respectively consider the aquatic mammals sacred animals. Like many other dolphins, they are well-known for their friendliness. The fish species have two stomachs that store food and the other for digestion.

The Burning Tree

They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice, and an even rarer occurrence is capturing the natural phenomenon in action. Someone came across this real-life burning tree that had been struck by a natural electrical discharge leaving it burning from the inside out. Hollow trees can function as natural chimneys and accelerate the burning process.

Sometimes, there’s little evidence that burning took place when observing a hollow tree at face value. To debunk the previous theory, lightning can strike the same place repeatedly. This is mostly the case if the said object is isolated and tall. For instance, lightning strikes the Empire State Building a reported 25 times annually.