A zebra walks through the recently flooded Safari Park located at Safari World November 2, 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)

An Israeli soldier leaves the battlefield after an army exercise on at the Shizafon army base, in the Negev Desert north of the southern city of Eilat on January 31, 2012 in Shizafon, Israel. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

At the end of rice harvesting season, the folks of the Kagawa and Niigata Prefectures in Japan hold a straw festival to celebrate the abundance of the harvest. Dried straws cover wooden frames to form larger-than-life sculptures from animals like sharks and gorillas to vessels such as ships and tanks. The family-friendly event invites visitors of all ages to engage, interact, and play on the enormous structures.

Amelia Rise Donkeys, a small facility in Australia, care for a number of these beautiful animals on a daily basis. Check out these stunning images of 15-month-old Jack Johnston playing with the adorable creatures.

Firework display from the top of the Sky Tower to welcome the New Year on January 1, 2015 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold, hence the well-known nickname of fool's gold. The color has also led to the nicknames brass, brazzle, and Brazil, primarily used to refer to pyrite found in coal.
In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals.

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia syn. Uncia uncia) is a large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because as of 2003, the size of the global population was estimated at 4,080-6,590 adults, of which fewer than 2,500 individuals may reproduce in the wild.

Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini are obsessed with people’s hobbies. The two Swiss artists have spent the past seven years traveling across their native Switzerland photographing gatherings of like-minded people in a myriad array of interests and niche groups.