With temperatures soaring and summer well underway, countless Americans will be spending their Independence Day weekend at the beach. Here we revisit some classic images from the turn-of-the-century to the 1930's of vacations by the sea, from Coney Island to Santa Monica.

“The fennec fox is a small nocturnal fox found in the Sahara of North Africa. Its most distinctive feature is unusually large ears. The name “fennec” comes from the Arabic word for fox, and the species name zerda has a Greek origin that refers to its habitat. The fennec is the smallest species of canid in the world; coat, ears and kidney functions have adapted to a high-temperature, low-water, desert environment. In addition, its hearing is sensitive enough to hear prey moving underground”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A Baby Fennec is seen at Sunshine International Aquarium on June 24, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan. The small nocturnal fox babies were born on May 17 2009. (Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images)

“The titan arum or Amorphophallus titanum (from Ancient Greek amorphos, “without form, misshapen” + phallos, “phallus”, and titan, “giant”) is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The titan arum's inflorescence is not as large as that of the Talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera, but the inflorescence of the Talipot palm is branched rather than unbranched”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Kew Gardens employee Lauren Bird Royal examines the flowering of the Titan Arum lily at the Botanical Gardens at Kew on September 30, 2005 in London, England. For the first time in horticultural history, the Titan Arum lily can be seen at all three active stages in its lifecycle – in flower, fruit and leaf.The flowering corm is nearly three metres tall and weighs 91kg and is very rarely seen outside of the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

“Most recently, the bushy beard’s masculinity has been turned off and instead adorned with flower power. A wacky new trend sees hipsters weave foliage into their facial hair. It’s emerging across boho America. Yes, men in Brooklyn, Portland and San Francisco are adorning their faces with blossoms, seemingly for the sole purpose of artistic portraits that have been taking over the social media with the hashtag #flowerbeards. It started gaining popularity on the social platform of Tumblr, when a blogger began “Will It Beard” project, and has since blossomed elsewhere around the Internet”. – Linda Sharkey via The Independent. (Photo by designsquish/Tumblr)

A parrot stuck on a roof for three days greeted firefighters sent to its aid on August 13, 2018 with a four-letter tirade. Jessie, the multi-lingual Macaw, flipped the bird after escaping from her owner's home in Edmonton, north London, UK. When she could not be lured down from a neighbour's roof, firefighters were called out and told to tell the bird “I love you” – to which Jessie replied “I love you back”. But she then ruffled her would-be rescuers' feathers by telling them to “f**k off” before flying off to another nearby rooftop. The foul-mouthed pet also speaks Turkish and Greek according to its owner, but had its own choice words in English for the rescue team. As Jessie wasn't injured, the firefighters, who had been called in by the RSPCA, left her on her perch. The parrot was later reunited with its owner. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

When you gaze into the eyes of this beautiful creature, you can almost make out constellations forming deep within. The name of this magnificent bird is Zeus, named after the Greek god of the sky for her one-of-a-kind eyes. The reason why she has such eyes is because she is blind. She was saved by a family in Southern California, when they found her injured on their front porch. After realizing that this poor creature is blind and unable to take care of itself, they took her to an animal hospital. After she healed up, everyone agreed that she should be sent to the Wildlife Learning Center. From that point on, Zeus has been happily living in the center. And though she cannot see, you can bet that her other senses are ten times as sharp. (Photo by Wildlife Learning Center)

Activists and supporters of Ukrainian nationalist groups light flares during a rally to mark the third anniversary of the Euromaidan Revolution in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, 21 November 2016. About one thousand activists took park in the rally during which they burned tires on the Independence Square, destroyed the Russian bank Sberbank and broke windows in the office of a Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, according to Ukrainian media. (Photo by Roman Pilipey/EPA)