Kids jump off the breakwater into the ocean ahead the Fourth of July holiday in Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S., July 3, 2023. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

At the 2025 Spring Commencement Ceremony held at Dongguk University in Jung-gu, Seoul on the morning of the February 13th, 2025, graduates are taking graduation photos while riding on elephant statues. Only graduates are allowed to ride on the school's famous elephant statue of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. (Photo by Park Seong-won)

Emma the Maltese's fur blows in the wind as she rides in her owner's purse on 5th Avenue at Central Park in New York December 2, 2014. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Once upon a time a myth was born that insects, unlike animals, are just a machines that not capable of learning and survive only based on their instincts. That myth has become the widespread opinion. Of course, this opinion is indeed erroneous, like many other widespread opinions. Let us try to find out which part is a myth and which part is true.

In this March 13, 2015 photo, Yohan, 4, from left, Cristian, 7, and Angelo, 6, playfully toss coca leaves into the air, singing: “I have a lot of money, look at all the money I have”, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. Hauling cocaine out of the remote valley is about the only way to earn decent cash in this region where a farmhand earns less than $10 a day. Beyond extinguishing young lives, the practice has packed Peru's highland prisons with cocaine backpackers while their bosses evade incarceration. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

A young Indian girl dressed as Hindu goddess Laxmi participates in a procession to mark “Gudi Padwa”, or Maharashtrian New Year, in Mumbai, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, Friday, April 8, 2016. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

“Cassowaries are large, flightless birds related to emus and (more distantly) to ostriches, rheas, and kiwis”, writes Olivia Judson in the September issue of National Geographic magazine. How large? People-size: Adult males stand well over five foot five and top 110 pounds. Females are even taller, and can weigh more than 160 pounds. Dangerous when roused, they’re shy and peaceable when left alone. But even birds this big and tough are prey to habitat loss. The dense New Guinea and Australia rain forests where they live have dwindled. Today cassowaries might number 1,500 to 2,000. And because they help shape those same forests – by moving seeds from one place to another – “if they vanish”, Judson writes, “the structure of the forest would gradually change” too. (Photo by Christian Ziegler/National Geographic)

“Attacking Howler Monkey”. Due to a major tropical rainstorm my wife and I were forced to stay overnight in a Howler Monkey Rescue center in Panama. I used the time to explore the area and to take photos of the monkeys. Just after the rain finally stopped, I ran into this monkey that tried to mock attack me. I quickly took a couple of photos before retreating to a (more) safe distance. (Photo and caption by Christian Mueller-Planitz/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.