Giant pandas live in a few isolated mountain ranges in the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu in south-central China. They live in broad leaf and coniferous forests with a dense understory of bamboo, at elevations between 1,500 m and 3,000 m. Torrential rains, dense mists, and heavy cloud cover characterize these forests throughout much of the year. The giant panda has lived in bamboo forests for several million years. It is a highly specialized animal, with unique adaptations.

Bamboo is the giant panda’s favorite food. Adult giant pandas will spend 10 to 16 hours a day finding and eating bamboo. It may eat up to 20 kg of bamboo each day to get all the nutrients it needs. They eat different parts of the plant depending on the time of year. In the summer and autumn, pandas munch mostly on leaves. Winter means a diet of tough stems. Spring provides tender, young bamboo shoots.

Giant pandas stand 1 m tall at the shoulder (on all four legs) and are 1.5 m long. Males are larger than females, weighing up to 115 kg in the wild. Females rarely reach 100 kg. An adult giant panda spends much of its day resting, seeking food, and eating. Unlike other bears from temperate climates, giant pandas do not hibernate.

Giant pandas have a very specialized anatomy linking them to bamboo for survival. Their front paws are specially designed to allow them to hold bamboo stalks. Giant pandas appear to have thumbs. But these “thumbs” are really extensions of the wrist bone. To hold a piece of bamboo, a panda wraps its fingers around one side of the stalk. Then it holds it in place by pushing the wrist bone, or pseudo-thumb, forward.

Female giant pandas can become pregnant only once a year in the spring. Barking calls and scents draw males and females to each other. Females give birth between 95 and 160 days after mating. Females may give birth to two young pandas, but usually only one survives.

Huacachina Oasis

Huacachina is a village in the Ica Region, in southwestern Peru. Huacachina is built around a small natural lake in the desert. Called the “oasis of America,” it serves as a resort for local families from the nearby city of Ica, and increasingly as an attraction for tourists drawn by the sports of sand boarding and taking dune buggy rides on sand dunes that stretch several hundred feet high.

Erg Awbari Oasis

Umm Al-Maa, which means Mother of Water, is one of the biggest lakes situated in the oasis. It is located deep within the sandy dunes of the Ubari Sand Sea hidden in the Libyan Sahara. There are 16 more lakes in the surrounding area. Some of them vanish from time to time but some exist constantly in the embrace of the desert. This salt lake is a famous trade center for the local people. While the water gets dirty, salt levels are becoming larger and even the same as in the Dead Sea, which makes swimming there quite easy.

Maranhao Oasis

This beautiful desert lake is located in Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Maranhao, Brazil. Formed as part of a freshwater lake system that comes from rain during the first six months of each year and then will gradually evaporate and the water next year will rise again. In some of these lakes, there are palm trees, while others are just barren.

Crescent Lake Oasis

China Crescent Lake is a magnificent and extremely beautiful spring located in the Gobi desert, about 6 kilometres south of Dunhuang city in China. It is embraced by the Echoing-Sand Mountain. The water of this living oasis is used by the farmers and the local people and that, combined with the lack of the rain in the area, led to the gradual disappearance of the lake, which has existed for thousands of years. The lake can be seen during your exciting journey on the Silk Route.

Jeita Grotto Cave

The Jeita cave is situated at the center of the western flanks of the Lebanon mountains, its natural entrance is about 100 metres (330 ft) above sea level. The Jeita Grotto is a system of two separate, but interconnected, karstic limestone caves spanning an overall length of nearly 9 kilometres (5.6 mi). Though inhabited in prehistoric times, the lower cave was not rediscovered until 1836 by Reverend William Thomson; it can only be visited by boat since it channels an underground river that provides fresh drinking water to more than a million Lebanese. In 1958, Lebanese speleologists discovered the upper galleries 60 metres (200 ft) above the lower cave which have been accommodated with an access tunnel and a series of walkways to enable tourists safe access without disturbing the natural landscape. The upper galleries house the world’s largest stalactite. The galleries are composed of a series of chambers the largest of which peaks at a height of 120 metres (390 ft).

Huanglong Cave

Huanglong Cave or “yellow dragon cave” , which is the most famous scenery in Wulingyuan Scenic Area has been regarded as “the marvelous spectacle of the karst cave in the world”, “No. 1 Karst Cave”, and “the most beautiful cave” in the world. The total area of the cave is 100,000 square meters. The geologists from home and abroad all think that Yellow Dragon Cave includes all the characteristics of a karst cave. There are splendid stalactites, stalagmites, hills, and rivers in the cave.

Eisriesenwelt Cave

The Eisriesenwelt is a natural limestone ice cave located in Werfen, Austria, about 40 km south of Salzburg. The cave is inside the Hochkogel mountain in the Tennengebirge section of the Alps. It is the largest ice cave in the world, extending more than 42km and visited by about 200,000 tourists every year.

Whitewater rafting has become such a popular extreme sport among travelers that many destinations around the world have become famous for their thrilling and challenging rivers. Rafting or white water rafting is a challenging recreational outdoor activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on white water or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers. The development of this activity as a leisure sport has become popular since the mid-1970s. It is considered an extreme sport, as it can be dangerous.

Rafts in white water are very different vehicles than canoes or kayaks and have their own specific techniques to maneuver through whitewater obstacles. White water rafting can be a dangerous sport, especially if basic safety precautions are not observed. Both commercial and private trips have seen their share of injuries and fatalities, though private travel has typically been associated with greater risk.

Depending on the area, legislated safety measures may exist for rafting operators. These range from certification of outfitters, rafts, and raft leaders, to more stringent regulations about equipment and procedures. It is generally advisable to discuss safety measures with a rafting operator before signing on for a trip. The equipment used and the qualifications of the company and raft guides are essential information to be considered.

Like most outdoor sports, rafting in general has become safer over the years. Expertise in the sport has increased, and equipment has become more specialized and increased in quality. As a result the difficulty rating of most river runs has changed. A classic example would be the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon or Jalcomulco River in Mexico, which has swallowed whole expeditions in the past, leaving only fragments of boats. In contrast, it is now run safely by commercial outfitters hundreds of times each year with relatively untrained passengers.

Leucistic animals are often mistaken as being albino creatures, such as white lions. Leucism is a condition similar to albinism, characterized by reduced pigmentation in general and can also affect distribution of pigment on the hair shaft, but unlike albinism, it’s caused by a reduction in all types of skin pigment, not just melanin.

Albinism is a form of hypopigmentary congenital disorder, characterized by a partial or total lack of melanin pigment in the eyes, skin and hair. Albinism results from inheritance of recessive alleles (genes) and the condition is known to affect mammals (including humans), fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Albinism is hereditary; it is not an infectious disease and cannot be transmitted through contact, blood transfusions, or other vectors. The principal gene which results in albinism prevents the body from making the usual amounts of the pigment melanin. Most forms of albinism are the result of the biological inheritance of genetically recessive alleles (genes) passed from both parents of an individual, though some rare forms are inherited from only one parent. There are other genetic mutations which are proven to be associated with albinism. All alterations, however, lead to changes in melanin production in the body.

Most humans and many animals with albinism appear white or very pale. In some animals, especially albinistic birds and reptiles, ruddy and yellow hues or other colors may be present on the entire body or in patches due to the presence of other pigments unaffected by albinism, as well as carotenoid pigments derived from the diet. Some animals are white or pale due to pigment cell defects, do not lack melanin production, and have normal eyes — referred to as leucistic.

Using just a single sheet of back paper, Boston-based artist Joe Bagley creates silhouettes that are undeniably beautiful. Whether it’s a couple stealing a quick kiss or a single swallow soaring through the air, Bagley’s designs are all original and each is cut by hand. He even proudly states, “No lasers, dies, or prints!”

They can be recognized by their characteristic blue and black rings and yellowish skin. When the octopus is agitated, the brown patches darken dramatically, and iridescent blue rings or clumps of rings appear and pulsate within the maculae. An individual blue-ringed octopus tends to use its dermal chromatophore cells to camouflage itself until provoked, at which point it quickly changes colour, becoming bright yellow with blue rings or lines.

Their diet typically consists of small crab and shrimp, but they may also feed on fish if they can catch them. They pounce on their prey, paralyze them with venom and use their beaks to tear off pieces. The octopus produces venom that contains tetrodotoxin, 5-hydroxytryptamine, hyaluronidase, tyramine, histamine, tryptamine, octopamine, taurine, acetylcholine, and dopamine.

The major neurotoxin component of blue-ringed octopus venom was originally known as maculotoxin but was later found to be identical to tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin which is also found in pufferfish and cone snails that is 10,000 times more toxic than cyanide. Tetrodotoxin blocks sodium channels, causing motor paralysis and respiratory arrest within minutes of exposure, leading to cardiac arrest due to a lack of oxygen. The toxin is produced by bacteria in the salivary glands of the octopus. There is no blue-ringed octopus antivenom available.