The tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation Carina. (Photo by Reuters/NASA)

Chocolate is the greatest gift the Earth has given us. The dessert table would be a sad sight without it. It’s so beloved, so appreciated, that the Swedish scientist who named the cocoa plant that gives us chocolate called it Theobroma cacao, which means “food of the gods”. Here: Farmer holding a freshly cut cocoa bean pod, revealing the pulp and seed inside on a rainforest farm. (Photo by Doug McKinlay/Getty Images)

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)

Siberian tigers are fed by visitors from a bus at the Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province, on January 6, 2023. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

Soldiers from Japan's Ground Self Defense Force come ashore in amphibious assault vehicle as they train alongside U.S. Marines during the bilateral annual Iron Fist military training exercise in Camp Pendleton, California February 26, 2016. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

Model and Kate Moss lookalike, Denise Ohnona debuts a bespoke duvet-inspired dress designed by Travelodge, which they have dubbed “The 24-hour dress”, in London in the second decade of September 2024. (Photo by David Parry/PA Media Assignments)

v-u-den (Biyuuden, Viyuden or Biyuden; 美勇伝) – Aisu Kuriimu to My Purin (愛すクリ～ムとMyプリン) [Pretty Dance Version]

Residents carry a slaughtered pig with a bamboo pole as they walk home on a street, which was shut to traffic due to ice, in Leishan county, Guizhou province January 31, 2015. Blizzards and icy rain that lasted for several days at the end of January have disrupted traffic, collapsed houses and decimated crops in central Chinese provinces, Xinhua News Agency reported. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)