Sharon Beals is a San Francisco based photographer who has photographed nest and eggs specimens collected over the last two centuries at The California Academy of Sciences, The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and The Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. While few nests are collected today, these nests and eggs are used for research, providing important information about their builder’s habitats, DNA, diseases and other survival issues.

During a jungle survival program February 20, 2013 taught by Royal Thai Special Forces in Sannapit, Thailand, U.S. Marines learned to catch cobras and drink their fresh blood, not to mention eat forest insects and pull the heads off of chicken. The training was part of Operation Cobra Gold 13, the 32nd edition of international military exercises hosted by the Thai. According to a U.S. Marines press release, Cobra Gold is the largest exercise of its kind in Asia and incorporates troops from five other nations in addition to the U.S. and Thailand. The Daily Mail reports that the Marines were invited to experience the local custom of drinking cobra blood after being taught to catch and kill cobras in the wild. As CNN notes, Cobra blood is believed to be a panacea and aphrodiasic in parts of Southeast Asia. In Jakarta, vendors can earn over $100 a night selling shots of cobra blood mixed with liquor. (Photo by Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP Photo)

Golden-crowned Kinglets boldly bear their flashy lemon-yellow crest and a black eyebrow stripe. Taking a good look at them might be rather challenging, since they spend most of their time in the dense fir foliage or spruce. However, if you’re patient enough to find them, listen for their shrill, thin song. Though these “little Kings” are only a tad bit larger than a hummingbird, they can survive easily extreme cold by huddling close together. They breed in montane west and the far north and only visit North America during winter.

A competitor reacts as she emerges from the water during the Tough Guy event in Perton, central England, January 26, 2014. The annual Tough Guy race – “the toughest race in the world” – at Perton in Staffordshire. Tough Guy claims to be the world’s most demanding one-day survival ordeal. First staged in 1987, the Tough Guy Challenge has been widely described as one of the hardest races of it’s type with up to one-third of the starters failing to finish in a typical year. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)

A baby Jack Russell and Chihuahua mix has defied the odds by surviving despite its tiny size and being abandoned by its mother. The owners of named the puppy “Miracle” and have taken over the feeding and care of the baby after its four siblings passed away shortly after being born. Owner Kayley-May Coles, age 10, said, “Everyone thinks she is absolutely beautiful. My friends absolutely love her. My teacher thought she might be the smallest dog ever to be born. She is just perfect”.

A eunuch dances during a rally to mark the congregation of thousands of eunuchs from different parts of India, in Jammu, India, Friday, March 13, 2015. The term eunuchs is used in India to describe transvestites, transsexuals and others who identify themselves as neither male nor female but as a member of a third gender. They traditionally survive by begging, dancing at weddings or blessing newborn babies and are frequently subjected to discrimination. (Photo by Channi Anand/AP Photo)

“Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. Built between 1175 and 1490, Wells Cathedral has been described as “the most poetic of the English Cathedrals”. The Wells clock, an astronomical clock, is located in the north transept. The surviving mechanism, dated to between 1386 and 1392, was replaced in the 19th century, and was eventually moved to the Science Museum in London, where it continues to operate. It is the second-oldest surviving clock in England”. – Wikipedia

Photo: The clock face of world's oldest continually-working mechanical clock is seen as it is hand wound for the very last time on August 21, 2010 in Wells, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

People stand near beached sperm whales on January 13, 2016, after they became stranded on the Dutch island of Texel the day before. Five sperm whales which became stranded on Texel have died, officials said January 13. Experts said the beached whales had already been badly injured and their chances of survival were poor. Volunteers tried to save them but called off their efforts late in the night because of bad weather and darkness, ANP news agency said. (Photo by Remko de Waal/AFP Photo/ANP)