Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Nature. Mostrar todas as mensagens
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Nature. Mostrar todas as mensagens

5 Places to watch the sunset before you die. Amazing.

Stonehenge, England1/5

There’s not many things in nature as beautiful as a sunset. The right setting with the right people can make this daily occurrence an unforgettable moment. Depending on the weather, place, and time, some sunsets happen to be more gorgeous than others (in our opinion anyway!) Here are 25 of the best sunsets in the world.



Grand Canyon, Arizona USA2/5




Angkor Wat, Cambodia3/5




Mount Bromo, Indonesia4/5




Santorini, Greece5/5


Iguazu Falls, Brazil

"Iguazu Falls, are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentinian province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River rises near the city of Curitiba. The river flows through Brazil for most of its course, although most of the falls are on the Argentine side. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the boundary between Argentina and Brazil.



The name "Iguazu" comes from the Guarani or Tupi words "y" , meaning "water", and "ûasú "[waˈsu], meaning "big". Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. The first European to find the falls was the Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541.

On November 11 of 2011, Iguazu Falls was announced as one of the seven winners of the New Seven Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation.

Iguazu Falls is located where the Iguazu River tumbles over the edge of the Paraná Plateau, 23 kilometres (14 mi) upriver from the Iguazu's confluence with the Paraná River. Numerous islands along the 2.7-kilometre-long (1.7 mi) edge divide the falls into numerous separate waterfalls and cataracts, varying between 60 to 82 metres (197 to 269 ft) high. The number of these smaller waterfalls fluctuates from 150 to 300, depending on the water level. About half of the river's flow falls into a long and narrow chasm called the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese). The Devil's Throat is U-shaped, 82 metres high, 150 m wide, and 700 m long (269×490×2,300 ft). Placenames have been given also to many other smaller falls, such as San Martin Falls, Bossetti Falls and many others.


About 900 metres (2,950 ft) of the 2.7-kilometre (1.7 mi) length does not have water flowing over it. The edge of the basalt cap recedes by 3 mm (0.1 in) per year. The water of the lower Iguazu collects in a canyon that drains in the Paraná River, a short distance downstream from the Itaipu Dam. The junction of the water flows marks the border between Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. There are points in the cities of Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, and Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, which have access to the Iguazu River, where the borders of all three nations can be seen, a popular tourist attraction for visitors to the three cities." Wikipedia


Blue Lakes Pass, USA



The Blue Lakes Pass is located in Mount Sneffels Wilderness, a wilderness area in southwest Colorado,  USA.

One of the ways to get to the summit of Mount Sneffels goes by Blue Lakes Pass, which is a glacial basin containing 3 lakes.

The Lowest Lake is the biggest and Middle Lake is the smallest lake.
The closest town is Ouray, a lovely small town.


Weedy sea dragon



The Weedy sea dragon or common sea dragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, is a marine fish related to the seahorse. It is the only member of the genus Phyllopteryx. It is found in water 3 to 50 m deep around the south coast of Australia, from Port Stephens, New South Wales to Geraldton, Western Australia. It also found in the waters around Tasmania. Weedy sea dragons are named for the weed-like growth on their bodies. This camouflage hides them as they move among the seaweed beds where they live. The weedy sea dragon is the aquatic emblem for the state of Victoria.

Weedy sea dragons can reach 45 cm in length. They feed on tiny crustaceans and other zooplankton, which they suck into the end of their long tube-like nose. They don't have a tail that can wrap around and hold on to things the way a seahorse can. They swim in shallow reefs and weed beds, and look like weeds drifting over bare sand.

Sea dragons, seahorses and pipe fish are the only species where the male carries the eggs. The male carries the fertilized eggs, joined under his tail. They stay there for about eight weeks until they hatch. The young can look after themselves as soon as they are born.  Breeding sea dragons in captivity is rare because scientists don't know what makes them breed in the wild. Keeping sea dragons in captivity is difficult as only about 60% will survive.

The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, Melbourne Aquarium in Australia, and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are the only places in the world to have bred weedy sea dragons, though others have been able to get them to lay eggs.

Angel Falls, Venezuela



"Angel Falls (Spanish: Salto Ángel; Pemon language: Kerepakupai Vená, meaning "waterfall of the deepest place", or Parakupá Vená, meaning "the fall from the highest point") is a waterfall in Venezuela. It is the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 979 m (3,212 ft) and a plunge of 807 m (2,648 ft). The waterfall drops over the edge of the Auyantepui mountain in the Canaima National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Canaima), a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State. The height figure 979 m (3,212 ft) mostly consists of the main plunge but also includes about 400 m (0.25 mi) of sloped cascades and rapids below the drop and a 30-metre (98 ft) high plunge downstream of the talus rapids.

The falls are on the Gauja River (alternatively known as the Kerep River or Kerepacupai), which flows into the Churun River, a tributary of the Carrao River.

The waterfall has been known as the "Angel Falls" since the mid twentieth century; they are named after Jimmie Angel, a US aviator, who was the first person to fly over the falls. Angel's ashes were scattered over the falls on July 2, 1960.

The common Spanish name "Salto Ángel" derives from his surname. In 2009, President Hugo Chávez announced his intention to change the name to the purported original indigenous Pemon term ("Kerepakupai Vená", meaning "waterfall of the deepest place"), on the grounds that the nation's most famous landmark should bear an indigenous name. Explaining the name change, Chávez was reported to have said, "This is ours, long before Angel ever arrived there… this is indigenous property." However, he later said that he would not decree the change of name, but only was defending the use of Kerepakupai Vená." Wikipedia



Cute baby Hedgehogs




"A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae, which is in order Erinaceomorpha. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and New Zealand (by introduction). There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas. Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (family Soricidae), with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and have changed little over the last 15 million years. Like many of the first mammals they have adapted to a nocturnal, insectivorous way of life. Hedgehogs' spiny protection resembles that of the unrelated rodent porcupines and monotreme echidnas.

The name hedgehog came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English heyghoge, from heyg, hegge ("hedge"), because it frequents hedgerows, and hoge, hogge ("hog"), from its piglike snout. Other names include urchin, hedgepig and furze-pig." Wikipedia