A white ibis takes a shower at Lake Eola in Orlando, Florida, US on September 29, 2025. (Photo byRonen Tivony/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Is it a leaf? Is it tree bark? No, it’s the Satanic leaf-tailed gecko. Cleverly disguised as a rotting leaf, Madagascar’s camouflage king has red eyes, pointy horns and a taste for night hunting: it’s nature’s most devilish deceiver. The twisted body and veiny skin echo the detail of a dry leaf, which ensures the gecko blends in with its forest home. The mottled tail appears to have sections missing, as though it has withered over time. This mini-monster epitomises survival of the fittest, having adapted gradually to become today’s extraordinary leaf impersonator. (Photo by Thomas Marent/ARDEA)

Policemen and residents run as waves from a tidal bore surge past a barrier on the banks of Qiantang River in Haining, Zhejiang province August 31, 2011. As Typhoon Nanmadol approaches eastern China, the tides and waves in Qiantang River recorded its highest level in 10 years, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

Japanese college students look at cheerleaders during a job-hunting rally in Tokyo January 29, 2014. According to the rally organizers, about 1,500 students from vocational schools attend the rally to boost their morale ahead of their job hunt. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

Mural of wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill wearing stockings and suspenders and giving the “V” sign by illusive local artist who goes by the name Horace, on the side of the Sandpiper guest house in Brighton on November 22, 2020. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)

The Villarrica volcano lights up the sky at night seen from Pucon town, Chile on December 14, 2023. (Photo by Cristobal Saavedra Escobar/Reuters)

Paul Dixon is an engineer by day and an astrophotographer by night. He shot this broken boat on Dungeness beach, Kent in the last decade of August 2024, 17 times, stacking the images upon each other before combining them with a similar composite of the Milky Way. (Photo by Paul Dixon/Media Drum Images)

Vervet monkeys Higgins, left, and Andor fight playfully atop a car in the Park 'N Fly parking lot which lies adjacent to the swampy mangrove preserve where the monkey colony lives, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Dania Beach, Fla. For 70 years, a group of non-native monkeys has made their home next to a South Florida airport runway, delighting visitors and becoming local celebrities. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)