You have probably seen goats climbing mountains and impossible cliffs, but have you seen goats on top of trees? The following pictures originate from South-West Morocco, where the goats climb the Argan trees to eat argo nuts used by Moroccans to extract oil. In drought-ridden conditions when there is little else to eat, goats often climb up a variety of trees in search of food.
The Ellison's Cave, located in the northwest Georgia, is one of the most spectacular caves of the world. With a depth of 1,063 feet and a length of 64,030 feet, Ellison's Cave in Walker County is the twelfth deepest and fifty-second longest cave in the United States. The two deepest cave drops in the continental United States occur in Ellison's Cave: "Fantastic," which drops 586 feet, and "Incredible," which drops 440 feet. The following pictures are of the Fantastic Pit.
A group of cavers descending the Fantastic Pit
Just like the welcome sign you see whenever you enter a city, a visitor to the South Pole is greeted by a sign too. This sign is located near a marker which identifies the exact geographical location of the South Pole.
But this marker does not remain at the same place for ever. The ice on top of Antarctica is constantly moving a few meters per year, so a new marker is installed once a year. Notice on the picture above. You can see a line of them just to the left of the flag going back into the distance.
The two names on the sign are Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott, the two great explorers who were the first to make it to the south pole. Amundsen (a Norwegian) beat Scott (a British) by a month. Amundsen's group managed to return from the pole with success, while Scott's group all perished on the return trip.
The quote from Amundsen on the sign is:
"So we arrived and were able to plant our flag at the geographical South Pole."
while the quote from Scott on the sign is:
"The Pole. Yes, but under very different circumstances from those expected."
The South Pole station, which is located very near to the south pole, is named after these two great explorers, the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The building behind the sign, in the following picture, is this station. This station was built and is operated by the US Antarctic Program, and hence the U.S. flag.
The following picture is the ceremonial marker for the south pole. The flags around the reflective chrome ball represent the twelve signatory countries of the original Antarctic Treaty: UK, Austrailia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, US, Norway, France, Argentina, Japan, Belgium, Russia (USSR).
Pictures and Information from TrekEarth
More pictures of the Antartic and the south pole
SouthPoleStation
Department of Astrophysics
Cool Antartica
US Antartic Program
The blue whale is the largest living animal on earth, with a length that can go up to 33 meters. This is an image of a blue whale.
Now imagine how big an image would be if we were to view it life sized. This is exactly what WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society has done. They have put up a life sized picture of the blue whale on their website. The photo is so big that it comes with a navigation system to help you know which part of the whale body you are viewing. See it here.
A part of the blue whale image
