A leopard skin burns as Indian officials and activists burn wildlife contraband including tiger and leopard skins, and bones as part of a campaign to save the tiger in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, July 30, 2013. Despite conservation efforts, tiger numbers in India have declined due to rampant poaching of the cats for their valuable pelts and body parts that are highly prized in traditional Chinese medicine. (Photo by Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo)

A wounded servicemen of Ukrainian Military Forces looks on after the battle with Russian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Lugansk region on March 8, 2022. The number of refugees flooding across Ukraine's borders to escape towns devastated by shelling and air strikes passed two million, in Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, according to the United Nations. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP Photo)

An Afghan girl who practices taekwondo poses for a photo in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, October 31, 2022. The ruling Taliban have banned women from sports as well as barring them from most schooling and many realms of work. A number of women posed for an AP photographer for portraits with the equipment of the sports they loved. Though they do not necessarily wear the burqa in regular life, they chose to hide their identities with their burqas because they fear Taliban reprisals and because some of them continue to practice their sports in secret. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Natalia Lage Rainha de Drums of the Escola de Samba Inocente de Belford Roxo during a presentation in the parade of the Special Group of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro at Avenida Marques de Sapucai, Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro on April 21, 2021. The Carnival parades that take place in February were postponed to this month of April due to the high number of cases caused during the pandemic caused by COVID-19 (Coronavirus). (Photo by Thiago Ribeiro/AGIF via AFP Photo)

A man prepares plastic strings, used to produce mats, inside a mat factory in the rebel-controlled area of Maarshureen town in Idlib province, Syria, December 22, 2015. The town is known for the significant number of mat factories which exports its production mainly to nearby Iraq through checkpoints controlled by insurgents. But in the past months the business has declined due to heavy airstrikes against insurgents, vendors said. (Photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)

Close Encounter of the Insect Kind: “Check out the awesome face on this praying mantis. I can't get over the mouth, it's like something from a science fiction movie. Of all photographic styles macro is definitely my favorite. I am constantly amazed, in every photo that I take, by the intricate level of detail that exists on even the smallest of creatures. It's a stark reminder that a very complex and infinitely beautiful world exists just beyond our human-sized level of perception. Photo taken in Donnybrook, Queensland, Australia” – Andrew Young. (Photo by Andrew Young/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)

“The Ainu (アイヌ?), also called Aynu, Aino (アイノ), and in historical texts Ezo (蝦夷), are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin. Most of those who identify themselves as Ainu still live in this same region, though the exact number of living Ainu is unknown. This is due to ethnic issues in Japan resulting in those with Ainu backgrounds hiding their identities and confusion over mixed heritages. In Japan, because of intermarriage over many years with Japanese, the concept of a 'pure Ainu' ethnic group is no longer feasible. Official estimates of the population are of around 25,000, while the unofficial number is upwards of 200,000 people”. – Wkipedia

Photo: A captive bear drinking from a large bottle held by an Ainu tribeswoman. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

“Sixteen pilot whales died when they became stranded at Pittenweem, near St Andrews, on Sunday morning, Forth Coastguard said.

The mammals were part of a group of 26, of which 10 were refloated and returned to sea by vets and more than 50 volunteers from the emergency services and British Divers Marine Life Rescue. The whales were kept cool and hydrated with wet blankets and sheets on the shore”. – WalesOnline

Photo: Emergency service personnel walk near beached whales as they continue in their rescue attempt to save a large number of pilot whales who have beached on September 1, 2012 in Pittenweem, Scotland. A number of whales have died after being stranded on the east coast of Scotland between Anstruther and Pittenweem. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell)