WasRare

Vinicunca Vinicunca, or Winikunka, also called Montaña de Siete Colores, Montaña de Colores or Rainbow Mountain, is a mountain in the Andes of Peru with an altitude of 5,200 metres (17,100 ft) above sea level. It is located on the road to the Ausangate mountain, in the Cusco region, between Cusipata District, province of Quispicanchi, and Pitumarca District, province of Canchis. Tourist access requires a two-hour drive from Cusco and a walk of about 5 kilometers (3.1 mi), or a three-and-a-half-hour drive through Pitumarca and a one-half-kilometre (0.31 mi) steep walk (1–1.5 hours) to the hill. As of 2019, no robust methods of transportation to Vinicunca have been developed to accommodate travelers, as it requires passage through a valley. In mid-2010, mass tourism came, attracted by the mountain's series of stripes of various colors due to its mineralogical composition on the slopes and summits. The mountain used to be covered by glacier caps, but these have melted due to Climate C...

Panama Creature The "Panama Creature" (also variously referred to as the "Panama Monster", "Panama ET" "Cerro Azul Monster", "Blue Stream Monster" or "Blue Hill Horror") refers to a carcass photographed near the town of Cerro Azul, Panama, in September 2009. After the animal was discovered and reputedly killed by a group of teenagers, photographs of the corpse were given to Telemetro, a Panamanian television station. The story and pictures circulated, and comparisons to the Montauk Monster were made. There was speculation about the identity of the creature, with suggestions including a hairless sloth, an alien species and a creature new to science. A biopsy performed by the National Environmental Authority of Panama on the remains a few days after the creature's discovery concluded that the corpse was in fact that of a male brown-throated sloth. The odd appearance had been caused by underwater decomposition, which had resu...

Montauk Monster The "Montauk Monster" was an animal carcass that washed ashore on a beach near the business district of Montauk, New York, in July 2008. The identity of the creature and the veracity of stories surrounding it have been the subject of controversy and speculation. The story began on July 23, 2008, with an article in the newspaper "The F-22 Raptor". Jenna Hewitt, 26, of Montauk, and three friends said that they found the creature on July 12 at the Ditch Plains beach, two miles east of the district. The beach is a popular surfing spot at Rheinstein Estate Park owned by the town of East Hampton. Jenna Hewitt was quoted: We were looking for a place to sit when we saw some people looking at something ... We didn't know what it was ... We joked that maybe it was something from Plum Island. Her color photograph of the creature ran in black and white under the headline "The Hound of Bonacville," a pun on the name Bonackers, which refers to the na...

Chilean Blob The Chilean Blob was a large mass of tissue found on Pinuno Beach in Los Muermos, Chile in July 2003. It weighed 13 tonnes (14 tons) and measured 12 metres (39 ft) across. The Chilean Blob made headlines around the world because biologists were initially unable to identify it, and were speculating that it was the remains of some species of giant octopus previously unknown to science. In June 2004, DNA found in the blob was found to match that of a sperm whale: the blob was a large mass of adipose tissue, the partial remains of a dead sperm whale.  

Nantucket Blob The Nantucket Blob was a globster that washed ashore on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, in November 1996. Analysis of samples in 2004 suggests that the Nantucket Blob was a large mass of adipose tissue from a whale.  

Bermuda Blob Bermuda Blob is the name given to two globsters that washed ashore on Bermuda in 1988 and 1997. Originally thought to be the remains of a cryptid, analysis proved the blobs to be the remains of whales. The first Bermuda Blob was found by Teddy Tucker, a fisherman and treasure hunter, in Mangrove Bay in May 1988. Tucker described the blob as "2½ to 3 feet thick . very white and fibrous . with five 'arms or legs,' rather like a disfigured star." Samples of the specimen were analysed in 1995 and it was suggested that these were from a poikilothermic sea creature, either a large teleost (bony fish) or an elasmobranch (shark or ray). Subsequent reanalysis of this specimen by the same team, however, using advanced genetic techniques not previously available, confirmed that it was actually the remains of a whale. Bermuda Blob 2 was found in January 1997. Analysis of samples in 2004 suggests that Bermuda Blob 2 was a large mass of adipose tissue from a whale.  

Trunko Trunko is the nickname for a large unidentified lump of flesh or a decomposed sea creature, a so-called "globster", reportedly sighted in Margate, South Africa on 25 October 1924. The initial source for Trunko was an article entitled "Fish Like A Polar Bear" published on the 27 December 1924, edition of London's Daily Mail. The animal was reportedly first seen off the coast battling two killer whales, which fought the unusual creature for three hours. It used its tail to attack the whales and reportedly lifted itself out of the water by about 20 feet (6 m). One of the witnesses, South African farmer Hugh Ballance, described the animal as looking like a "giant polar bear" due to what was thought to be dense-white fur.[citation needed] The creature reputedly washed up on Margate Beach but despite being there for 10 days, no scientist investigated the carcass while it was beached, so no reliable description has been published, and until September 2...

Basking shark The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark, and one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Adults typically reach 7.9 m (26 ft) in length. It is usually greyish-brown, with mottled skin. The caudal fin has a strong lateral keel and a crescent shape. The basking shark is a cosmopolitan migratory species, found in all the world's temperate oceans. A slow-moving filter feeder, its common name derives from its habit of feeding at the surface, appearing to be basking in the warmer water there. It has anatomical adaptations for filter-feeding, such as a greatly enlarged mouth and highly developed gill rakers. Its snout is conical and the gill slits extend around the top and bottom of its head. The gill rakers, dark and bristle-like, are used to catch plankton as water filters through the mouth and over the gills. The teeth are numerous and very small, and often nu...

Zuiyo-maru Carcass  The Zuiyo-maru carcass was a corpse, most likely a basking shark, caught by the Japanese fishing trawler Zuiyō Maru off the coast of New Zealand in 1977. The carcass's peculiar appearance led to speculation that it might be the remains of a sea serpent or prehistoric plesiosaur. Although several scientists insisted it was "not a fish, whale, or any other mammal", analysis of amino acids in the corpse's muscle tissue later indicated it was most likely the carcass of a basking shark. Decomposing basking shark carcasses lose most of the lower head area and the dorsal and caudal fins first, making them resemble a plesiosaur. On April 25, 1977, the Japanese trawler Zuiyō Maru, sailing east of Christchurch, New Zealand, caught a strange, unknown creature in the trawl. The crew was convinced it was an unidentified animal, but despite the potential biological significance of the curious discovery, the captain, Akira Tanaka, decided to dump the carcass into...

Stronsay Beast The Stronsay Beast was a large globster that washed ashore on the island of Stronsay (at the time spelled Stronsa), in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, after a storm on 25 September 1808. The carcass measured 55 ft (16.8 m) in length, without part of its tail. The Natural History Society (Wernerian Society) of Edinburgh could not identify the carcass and decided it was a new species, probably a sea serpent. The Scottish naturalist Patrick Neill gave it the scientific name Halsydrus pontoppidani (Pontoppidan's sea-snake) in honor of Erik Pontoppidan, who described sea serpents in a work published half a century before. The anatomist Sir Everard Home in London later dismissed the measurement, declaring it must have been around 36 ft (11 m), and deemed it to be a decayed basking shark. In 1849, Scottish professor John Goodsir in Edinburgh came to the same conclusion. The Stronsay Beast was measured by a carpenter and two farmers. It was 4 ft (1.2 m) wide and had a circumfe...

 St. Augustine Monster The St. Augustine Monster is the name given to a large carcass, originally postulated to be the remains of a gigantic octopus, that washed ashore on the United States coast near St. Augustine, Florida in 1896. It is sometimes referred to as the Florida Monster or the St. Augustine Giant Octopus and is one of the earliest recorded examples of a globster. The species that the carcass supposedly represented has been assigned the binomial names Octopus giganteus (Latin for "giant octopus") and Otoctopus giganteus (Greek prefix: oton = "ear"; "giant-eared octopus"), although these are not valid under the rules of the ICZN. A 1995 analysis concluded that the St. Augustine Monster was a large mass of the collagenous matrix of whale blubber, likely from a sperm whale.

New Zealand Globster A whale carcass, initially unidentified due to decomposition, was found washed ashore at Muriwai Beach, 42 kilometres from the centre of Auckland in New Zealand, in March 1965. At some point in time it was dubbed a "globster", after the Tasmanian Globster, a whale carcass found in Australia a few years earlier. The Auckland Star reported the find on its front page of 23 March 1965. At that time the carcass was 20 ft (6.1 m) long. It had a tough 1/4 inch thick hide, under which was a thin layer of what appeared to be fat, then solid meat. It was covered in what appeared to be "sand-matted grey hair four to six inches long". A Marine Department officer who had seen it more than a week earlier, said it had then been 30 ft (9.1 m) long by about 8 ft (2.4 m). The carcass was 15 miles from the southern end of the beach, and the article included two photographs of it. Shown photographs, John Morton, head of the zoology department at the University of A...

Tasmanian Globster The Tasmanian Globster was a large unidentified carcass that washed ashore 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) north of Interview River in western Tasmania, in August 1960. It measured 20 ft (6.1 m) by 18 ft (5.5 m) and was estimated to weigh between 5 and 10 tons. The mass lacked eyes and in place of a mouth, had "soft, tusk-like protuberances". It had a spine, six soft, fleshy 'arms' and stiff, white bristles covering its body. The carcass was identified as a whale by L.E. Wall in the journal Tasmanian Naturalist in 1981, and a later electron microscopy analysis of the collagen fibers confirmed this. The term globster was coined in 1962 by Ivan T. Sanderson to describe this carcass and the name Sea Santa, coined by another journalist in the same year.  

The Wave (Arizona) The Wave is a sandstone rock formation located in Arizona, United States, near its northern border with Utah. The formation is situated on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness of the Colorado Plateau. The area is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument visitor center in Kanab, Utah. The formation is well-known among hikers and photographers for its colorful, undulating forms and the difficult hike required to reach it. Due to the fragile nature of the formation and the large number of people wishing to visit it, a daily lottery system is used to dispense only ten next-day permits in person at the Kanab visitor center. Additionally, ten online permits for each date are available four months in advance of a planned trip. A map and information about the hike are supplied to those who have obtained permits.  

 Brahmaputra River ( Tibet ) The Brahmaputra also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachal Pradesh, and Luit, Dilao in Assam, is a trans-boundary river which flows through China, India, and Bangladesh.[a] It is the 9th largest river in the world by discharge, and the 15th longest. With its origin in the Manasarovar Lake region, near Mount Kailash, on the northern side of the Himalayas in Burang County of Tibet where it is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo River, it flows along southern Tibet to break through the Himalayas in great gorges (including the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon) and into Arunachal Pradesh. It flows southwest through the Assam Valley as the Brahmaputra and south through Bangladesh as the Jamuna (not to be confused with the Yamuna of India). In the vast Ganges Delta, it merges with the Ganges, popularly known as the Padma in Bangladesh, and becomes the Meghna and ultimately empties into the Bay of Bengal.

Strokkur Strokkur (Icelandic [ˈstrɔhkʏr̥], "churn") is a fountain-type geyser located in a geothermal area beside the Hvítá River in Iceland in the southwest part of the country, east of Reykjavík. It typically erupts every 6–10 minutes. Its usual height is 15–20 metres (49–66 ft), although it can sometimes erupt up to 40 metres (130 ft) high. Strokkur belongs to the Haukadalur valley area, where various other geothermal feature such as mud pools, fumaroles and other geysers are located around it, such as the famous Geysir geyser, which lies only 160 feet to the north.  

Svartifoss Svartifoss (Icelandic for "black waterfall", [ˈsvar̥tɪˌfɔsː]) is a waterfall in Skaftafell in Vatnajökull National Park in Iceland, and is one of the most popular sights in the park. It is surrounded by dark lava columns, which gave rise to its name. The base of this waterfall is noteworthy for its sharp rocks. New hexagonal column sections break off faster than the falling water wears down the edges. These basalt columns have provided inspiration for Icelandic architects, most visibly in the Hallgrímskirkja church in Reykjavík, and also the National Theatre.  

Honghe Hani Rice Terraces The Honghe Hani Rice Terraces are the system of Hani rice-growing terraces located in Honghe Prefecture, Yuanyang County, Yunnan, China. The terraces' history spans around 1,200 years. The total area stretches across 1,000,000 acres and four counties: Yuanyang, Honghe, Jinpin and Lüchun, although the core area of the terraces is located in Yuanyang County. In 2013, 16,603 hectares of the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces were listed as a World Heritage Site, because of their outstanding resilient construction, unique social-ecological system, and importance to the Hani people.  

Plateau of Valensole The Valensole plateau is a natural region of France located in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence , south-west of Digne-les-Bains , between the valleys of the Durance to the west, the Asse to the north, Gorges du Verdon and Lake Sainte-Croix to the south. Its average altitude is 500  m and it extends over 800  km 2 . It is crossed by the Asse valley , which separates it into two asymmetrical parts.  

Aurora An aurora  also known as the polar lights or aurora polaris, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky. Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind. These disturbances alter the trajectories of charged particles in the magnetospheric plasma. These particles, mainly electrons and protons, precipitate into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere). The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emit light of varying colour and complexity. The form of the aurora, occurring within bands around both polar regions, is also dependent on the amount of acceleration imparted to the precipitating particles. Most of the planets in the Solar System, some natural satellites, brown dwarfs, and even comets also host ...