A member of the United States Naval Academy freshman class wears body armor, helmet and carries a rifle through a mud-filled ditch as part of the “Wet and Sandy” challenge during the rigorous Sea Trials May 17, 2011 in Annapolis, MD. Under strict safety supervision, about 900 freshmen, or “Plebes”, faced 14 hours of 32 rigorous physical and mental challenges during the trials, a daylong, action-oriented event modeled after the Marine Corps 54-hour Crucible and the Navy's Battle Stations. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

An elephant calf yawns as mahouts paint elephants ahead of celebrations for the water festival of Songkran in Ayutthaya, Thailand on April 11, 2019. The annual elephant Songkran event is held to promote the tourism industry. Songkran Festival is held also to mark the Thai traditional New Year falling annually on 13 April, and it is celebrated with people splashing water and putting powder on each other faces as a symbolic sign of cleansing and washing away the sins from the past year. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Are you a fan of beards? If you are, have you ever thought that it might look like some sort of furry animal? David Kiefaber thought of the same thing when he participated in the “Free Your Skin” campaign, organized by Y&R New Zealand. You might think that you look all rugged and manly while wearing that luscious beard. But in reality, you simply look like a guy with a dead squirrel on his face. Or a raccoon… if you’re a greying middle-aged man. Hopefully, you’re not one of those people whose beard looks and/or smells like a skunk.

With more than 40,000 followers on Twitter and 26,400 fans on Vine, it looks like Marutaro the hedgehog from Japan is one of the most popular hedgehogs on the Internet. And as his owner keeps on posting Marutaro’s pictures online daily, Marutaro’s popularity continues to grow. There are hundreds of cute photographs and videos of this little fellow, but the ones with little paper cut-out faces are probably the cutest. As Marutaro lies on his back, his owner gives him a variety of silly expressions and smiles. The 20 best of them will definitely boost your mood!

The bloodwood tree (Pterocarpus angolensis) is a deciduous tree with a high canopy, reaching about 15m in height and has dark bark. The red sap is used traditionally as a dye and in some areas mixed with animal fat to make a cosmetic for faces and bodies. It is also believed to have magical properties for the curing of problems concerning blood, apparently because of its close resemblance to blood. The name bloodwood for these trees stems from the dark red to brown sap that accumulates on wounds on the trunks.

German artist Robert Rickhoff re-interprets the idea of public space with humor through a series of digitally manipulated photographs in a project entitled “out of place”. Rickhoff augments scenes within a seemingly commonplace environment to depict impractical yet lighthearted situations – including a playground slippery dip facing towards a busy road to a speed bump placed in an unassuming residential street that is actually a daredevil ramp. the visualizations are subtle yet provocative, forcing the audience to look twice to notice the unusual setting infused with tongue-in-cheek wit.