Spanish runner Francisco Contreras, 77, known as “Super Paco”, runs as he participates in the XVIII 101km international competition in the outskirts of Ronda, southern Spain, May 9, 2015. About 7,000 participants, including runners, mountain bikers and duathletes, run a track of 101 km (63 miles) in less than 24 hours through the “Serrania de Ronda” (Ronda Mountain Range) during this competition organised by the 4th Tercio (Regiment) “Alejandro Farnesio” of the Spanish Legion. The Puente Nuevo is 120 metres (394 feet) high over the gorge of the river that divides the city of Ronda. Picture taken using long exposure. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)

Local villagers ride a local coal powered steam train on March 27, 2015 at a station in the town of Shixi , Sichuan Province, in Southern China. While China boasts the world's most extensive high-speed rail infrastructure with over 16,000 kilometers of track, the Shixi-Bagou railway is still a primary connection for local villagers between towns and is kept alive by tourist cars carrying passengers for ten times the price. The rail line came into service in the late 1950s and the train was initially used to transport coal from a now-shuttered mine before passenger carriages were added. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Mexicans dressed as French soldiers carry handcrafted guns, ahead of a reenactment of the battle of Puebla between Zacapoaxtla Indians and the French army during Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Mexico City, Tuesday, May 5, 2015. Monsalvo said he has been portraying Napoleon III in the annual neighborhood event for 28 years. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the victory of an ill-equipped Mexican army over French troops in Puebla on May 5, 1862. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

The holder of half a dozen world records will walk across the Grand Canyon on a steel cable with nothing but the Little Colorado River 1,500 feet below on June 23. With no tethers or safety nets, the walk will be the highest tightrope attempt ever for the 34-year-old, at a height taller than the Empire State Building. Last year, Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the “Flying Wallendas” family of acrobats, became the only person to walk a wire over the brink of Niagara Falls. Photo: Nik Wallenda walks across a tightrope 200 feet above U.S. 41 on January 29, 2013 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Tim Boyles)

Lukas Michul, a member of the “dream walker” group jumps from atop the rugged rocks overlooking the azure waters of Navagio beach, one of the Greece's most renowned leisure spots on the popular tourist island of Zakynthos on June 23, 2014. This is rope jumping – part diving, part rock climbing, with a touch of engineering. The aim of the project is to dream jump in 80 places with most ravishing nature and architecture all over the world .They plan to stage their next leaps at a cave complex in Croatia, a French viaduct, skyscrapers in Las Vegas and Johannesburg, and the Grand Canyon. (Photo by Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP Photo)

A reef shell lies on a beach as the sun sets on Lady Elliot Island located north-east of the town of Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia, June 10, 2015. UNESCO World Heritage delegates recently snorkelled on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, thousands of coral reefs, which stretch over 2,000 km off the northeast coast. Surrounded by manta rays, dolphins and reef sharks, their mission was to check the health of the world's largest living ecosystem, which brings in billions of dollars a year in tourism. Some coral has been badly damaged and animal species, including dugong and large green turtles, are threatened. UNESCO will say on Wednesday whether it will place the reef on a list of endangered World Heritage sites, a move the Australian government wants to avoid at all costs, having lobbied hard overseas. Earlier this year, UNESCO said the reef's outlook was “poor”. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

The Bahamas, the Commonwealth nation of hundreds of islands roughly the size of Connecticut and with population of just a bit over Anaheim, is known for its crystal waters and pristine beaches. This is possibly one of the world’s most beautiful havens of nature, yet people are coming here to see pigs. It is unclear when the pigs first appeared on Exuma Island or where they come from. There’s talk about a daring escape from a shipwreck, or sailors releasing the swine on purpose. In all probability, there were no pigs on this tropical paradise before European settlers came, so their mere presence is the work of human. The intriguing feat of nature, however, is that this population of pigs developed a fine aptitude for swimming. Here: “So you're on a boat in Bahamas and then this pig swims by begging for food”. (Photo and caption by Lisa Larsen/Public Domain)