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50 Times People Saw Something Odd In Nature And Shared It In This Online Community (New Pics)
If you suddenly feel like being drawn to nature more than ever before, you’re not alone. This new research from the RSPB, the UK's largest nature conservation charity, revealed huge public support, 4 in 5 people to be exact, for putting nature at the heart of coronavirus recovery plans for the government.
I mean, surviving the public health crisis made us all reevaluate our life choices, values and intentions. One of which became an almost universal realization that we need more self-care, more human connection, and more of Mother Nature.
So for anyone craving greenery, animals, and soul-soothing gifts of nature, we have this amazing compilation of pictures inspired by the r/MildlyInteresting subreddit. From an unbelievable desert bloom and frozen windscreen that looks like an award-winning shot of Everest glacier to incredible flowers and weird-shaped fruits, these are the curiosities of nature people have spotted and had little choice but to share them with others.
Scroll down to upvote your favorite ones and be sure to check out our previous posts with mildly interesting quirks of nature here and here.
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Frost Pattern On A Car This Morning
The Way My Windscreen Froze
I Saw The End Of The Rainbow Today
To find out more about the wonders of nature, Bored Panda reached out to David Taberner, a nature photographer and English teacher based in Boston, Massachusetts. You can check out his website “Decent Nature Photography” full of David’s mesmerizing shots of nature.
Taberner said that nature photography is the most recent iteration of nature-based hobbies for him. “My spare time has always been spent in nature in one way or another: from childhood walks through the woods to long-distance backpacking in my early 20s to daily dog walks around local conservation land in my adult life. I've always liked to take pictures with my phone, but it wasn't until my partner generously gave me a DSLR for Christmas that the world of photography opened up for me.”
Yo These Vines In My Neighborhood Look Like An Elephant
The Petals Of This Camellia Flower
My Aunts Cat Has The Word No Circled In His Fur Pattern
The photographer also said that he hopes to one day use his photography to encourage conservation. “I often wonder to what degree sharing my images online harms rather than helps. Instagram pages like mine are full of beautiful images of wild animals and unspoiled landscapes, which may lead the viewer to imagine that all is well in the natural world. The truth is, things are far from okay; every day more habitat is lost to development and more carbon is emitted,” he explained. Taberner also said that the trick for him right now is “figuring out how to not perpetuate the illusion that all is well, but instead be an ally to the natural world.”
This Cat That Lives At The Parking Lot At My Job Has Extra Toes
5 Day Old Hedgehogs
This Stray Cat In Our Neighborhood Has A Perfect White Mustache
When asked what it is about nature that makes it such a magical place like no other, Taberner said that it's hard to express in words. He explained: “Waking up early and walking down a trail, away from the cars & concrete that I'm normally surrounded by, feels like a return or a homecoming. When I'm in the woods, I try to shut off the chatter in my brain and instead turn outward. I suppose it's a sort of meditation: what can I see, hear, smell, and feel? Focusing on my senses makes me feel more connected to the forest, is good for my mental health, and is extremely helpful from a photography standpoint, both in terms of finding compositions and noticing wildlife.”
“I don't think there's a doubt that people have grown distant from nature. Our alienation from nature is best illustrated by the very term ‘nature,’” Taberner told us. “We conceive of nature as something other than ourselves, a place that we can visit from time to time, but not something that we are part of or live in.”
This Geode Looks Like A Ocean Waves On The Beach
My Rhododendron Looks Like It's Trying To Run Off
I Saw Some Ants Carrying A Glove Up A Lamp
The nature photographer believes that just getting people out into nature is not as simple as it sounds. “Even among nature lovers, there seems to be a disconnect between our appreciation of nature and the often thoughtless consumption that is an everyday part of American life, including my own,” he added.
Taberner believes that although he spends so much of his time admiring the natural world, he also knows that he participates in the destruction of it with almost every purchase he makes. “The fact is, our economic system is based on the exploitation of people and the natural world. Until we transition to a sustainable, just economy, our disconnect from nature—regardless of what you or I do as individuals—will simply be baked into our way of life,” he commented.
My Cat Has One Little Curly Whisker
The Inside Of This Tree Looks Like A Fish
Our New Kitty Has 24 Toes
For those who’re wondering, the day of the nature photographer starts, as Taberner says, “painfully early” since animals are typically most active at dawn. “I wake up painfully early to get to a location where I'll have a good chance of seeing wildlife. A lot of effort and patience goes into this type of photography, from planning to scouting to trail cams to sitting in a blind for hours at a time waiting for an animal to show up.”
This Bumble Bee Lined Up Perfectly With The Stitches On My Shoe
My Grandad Showing Off His Gigantic Homegrown Cabbage
I Was Taking A Panorama Picture Of A Tree In Georgia And It Started Raining Halfway Through
When asked about his favorite memory of taking pictures in nature, Taberner recounted: “One day I went for a walk with my partner at a location where I had spent several early mornings looking for wildlife without any luck. I assumed that we wouldn't see any wildlife because it was midday, but within twenty minutes, we witnessed a family of otters eating fish on the bank of the pond and a porcupine bumbling down the trail, totally unbothered by our presence.”
It was a special moment for Taberner that’s hard to forget. “I felt so humbled like the natural world was playing a joke on me, almost as if it was laughingly saying, ‘sorry, did you think you knew something about how I work?’ I also loved that my partner was able to share in the wonder and excitement that I feel when I see animals, wild and free, in their natural habitat,” he concluded in an interview.
The Way The Light Hits This Spiderweb Makes It Look Like A Cd-Rom
The Variety Of Colors In The Eggs My Friend’s Chickens Laid
This Rainbow Vine Started Growing In My Backyard
This Tomato Looks Like A Rubber Duckie
Red Corn From Georgia
The Beautiful Tail On This Lizard I Saw
Our Cookout In Gatlinburg, Tn Was Interrupted By A Bear Who Sat Just Like A Human At The Picnic Table While He Finished Off Our Food
Believe This Might Be A Lightning Strike On A Concrete Sidewalk
Tiny Octopus I Found Inside A Seashell!
You have excellent awareness skills. They have excellent camouflage skills
The Ghost Deer That Patrols Our Neck Of The Woods
The World's Most Dangerous Plant!
But with pregnancy the real pain starts after the nine moths and lasts a lifetime
Load More Replies...Gympie gympie! These things have literally driven people to suicide! Horses that touch or eat them have been observed RUNNING OFF OF CLIFFS! They are NOT joking about how deadly this is!
How many people have reached through the wire? You know that is a non-zero number.
"A non-zero number" that's brilliant and made me lol :)
Load More Replies...Holy s***. I cut a huge one of these down last week. Thank the flying spaghetti monster I didn't sting myself
That's the perverse part of human nature. The part that bristles at being told no.
Load More Replies...Didn’t some poor officer in the 1800’s wipe his butt with one of these and ended up killing himself because of the pain?
this thing looks really ordinary. How on earth do you avoid bumping into it when going for a walk etc? Basically every second plant in my garden looks like that.
welcome to Australia 😁 where the real deadly stuff looks normal or you can't see it at all....
Load More Replies...There is a garden of deadly plants in England. I wonder what goodies this plant is so keen to protect
The Alnwick Poison Garden. I was there in October.
Load More Replies...apparently touching it isn't the only way for it to get you; from the wiki article: "the trichomes (Very fine, brittle hairs loaded with toxins that cover the entire plant) are constantly being shed from the plant and may be suspended in the air within its vicinity. They can then be inhaled, which may lead to respiratory complications if a person spends time in close proximity to the plant "
Sounds like jumping cholla here in Arizona. Here we know that the desert bites! The cholla, or teddy bear cactus will literally jump at you to get you. It is painful, but obviously not like this plant
Load More Replies...What they don't mention is that this grows into a tree. Contact with any part of it will leave you in pain for months. Try running down a trail overgrown with it - at night - during an adventure race....
Did this extremely specific situation happen to you?? If so I am truly sorry.
Load More Replies...Not putting it in a bullet proof glass container with air holes (obvs) and just behind a weak pokable gause, it's just asking to be prodded.
Where else could it possibly come from ? (Could we send one to trump?)
Gympie Gympie or stinging tree, grows in South East Queensland and probably other areas too; I have had it pointed out to me on a bush walk and thankfully didn't touch or brush past it!
Load More Replies...I read an article about a guy who tried to wipe his butt with one of those... let’s just say it didn’t end well
Some Instagram Influencer is going to reach in an touch it, just watch.
We have these where I live in the Whitsundays in Queensland. Oddly enough, they grow little clusters of berries that are actually edible (they have a very bland taste however).
Remove the cage and replace it with a glass container. Too easy for stupid people to touch.
Where can we stay away from it? I mean, nurseries and the like wouldn't put them for sale. No?
I remember reading a story about a guy killing himself because he fell into a bunch of those plants only wearing bathing shorts.
Can we have these in places where there is a high rate of moronic concentration?
I wish all living creatures could protect themselves against human cruelty and destruction.
More information: it's known as the gympie-gympie, named by the Gubbi Gubbi people of South eastern Queensland. It is found near rain forests. https://theconversation.com/the-worst-kind-of-pain-you-can-imagine-what-its-like-to-be-stung-by-a-stinging-tree-103220 What it's like to be stung
"Specimen collected over 100 years ago can still sting you." "like being stung by 30 wasps at once." the hairs of the plant can remain in your skin for 6 months, which causes the stinging if washed with water.
Load More Replies...Cue dozens of idiots immediately deciding to touch it anyway purely because the sign told them not to.
Wise not to write "DO NOT TOUCH", since everyone would touch it then
I feel like that cage should have smaller holes. I would be that one dumb person to try and touch it
You know somebody is going to be stupid enough to stick their finger through that fencing and touch the forbidden plant and then rant and rave while they are writhing in pain that they weren't properly warned. Here's a description of what the pain feels like from someone who got accidentally stung by one: It was like being stung by 30 wasps at once but not as painful as being stung by D. moroides, which I once described as the worst kind of pain you can imagine – like being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time.
Is the nine month period significant? (I'm thinking pregnancy/childbirth!)
This Tree I Found Grows Into Itself
I Made A Bird Friend Yesterday
This Swirly Dandelion I Found
Perfectly Round Rock I Found At The Beach
The Gradient This Clump Of Blueberries Makes
This Rock Looks Like A Decapitated Dragon's Head
I Found Glacier Water So Clear You Can Barely See It
This Big Ass Leaf. Wife For Scale
A Salt Crystal I Grew At Home
Found This Fossil Today
Elrathia kingii. One of the most common trilobite fossils, but not usually this nicely preserved. Great find.
My Grandfather Had A Red-Headed Woodpecker Land On His Leg
Found This ‘Veiled Lady’ Mushroom On A Hike This Morning Near Seoul, South Korea
Something tells me that picking this mushroom could result in supernatural vengeance
My Driveway Tomato Doing Well
Excessive Rain Resulted In Huge Blueberries
Neighbors Tree Was Struck By Lightning, It Now Blooms In Different Stages
This not caused by lightning, it's got a graft that is the wrong type of tree. Happens often with this kind of yrees. Basically it is just two types of trees in one, created by humans on accident or on purpose.
I Found A Bunch Of Rocks On A Beach And Organized Them By Color
This Weird Lemon That Grew On Our Lemon Tree
Went To See A Volcano That Is Only A Couple Of Kilometres Away From My Home. This Volcano Has Been Erupting For The Past Months In Iceland
These Large Pumpkins I Saw On The Freeway
My Son Was Born With A Black Spot Of Hair In His Blonde Hair. It Grows In Black, And There Is No Birth Mark Or Discoloration Under It
The Sand In Tahoe Is Magnetic And Stuck To My Phone
Tahoe, has several types of iron oxides plus pyrite, and magnetite in its sand — all of which will be attracted to the magnets on the back of an iPhone. Technically the iPhones magnets attracted the minute metals in the sand not visa versa. Still neat. I lived on the Westshore, Tahoe is truly a magical place
Note: this post originally had 124 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
It's great to see how aware people are. I mean the galaxy beans and the pod with the fisticuffs... Another person would just pass it by without seeing the humor in it.
Sorry some of us haven't seen them before. And I'm on here regularly.
Load More Replies...8 out of 10 people would NOT BELIEVE in almost 3/4 of these pictures! It really takes a keen eye to separate real phot from edited ones. .. Here THERE IS NOT ONE EDITED Photo!! PHENOMENAL, FLUBBERGASPED and JAWDROPPING PHOTS!! I`m enjoying this post so much, that I had to download almost all pictures to my drive! It`s worth having them near me in my DOWNLOADS PHOTO folder, that keeps getting bigger and bigger (currently it is about 76 of 80 GB in size) !!! KEEP FEEDING US W/POSTS LIKE THIS! MUST BUY AND ADD ONE MORE DRIVE, at least 500GB or even 1TB!
Yes they are wonderful pictures, mande.be, BUT WHY DO YOU HAVE TO USE CAPITAL LETTERS SO MUCH? I find it strange and distracting to read.
Load More Replies...It's great to see how aware people are. I mean the galaxy beans and the pod with the fisticuffs... Another person would just pass it by without seeing the humor in it.
Sorry some of us haven't seen them before. And I'm on here regularly.
Load More Replies...8 out of 10 people would NOT BELIEVE in almost 3/4 of these pictures! It really takes a keen eye to separate real phot from edited ones. .. Here THERE IS NOT ONE EDITED Photo!! PHENOMENAL, FLUBBERGASPED and JAWDROPPING PHOTS!! I`m enjoying this post so much, that I had to download almost all pictures to my drive! It`s worth having them near me in my DOWNLOADS PHOTO folder, that keeps getting bigger and bigger (currently it is about 76 of 80 GB in size) !!! KEEP FEEDING US W/POSTS LIKE THIS! MUST BUY AND ADD ONE MORE DRIVE, at least 500GB or even 1TB!
Yes they are wonderful pictures, mande.be, BUT WHY DO YOU HAVE TO USE CAPITAL LETTERS SO MUCH? I find it strange and distracting to read.
Load More Replies...