A kingfisher dives into the leafy water of the River Alde near Rendham, Suffolk in the second decade of November 2022 and catches two fish. Kingfishers must be able to see the fish they want to catch before making their dive, so for this bird to be successful when leaves covered the surface of the water shows its true skill for survival. (Photo by Ivor Ottley/Animal News Agency)

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)

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 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)

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.

Two workers shovel mud from the river as they look for gold on March 25, 2014 in Lampang, Thailand. Thai villagers from Wang Nuea, North of Thailand, look for gold in the river every year during the drought season. They are able to make an average around USD 15 per day, however two years ago they reached USD 200 in one day due to the river level dropping so much. The workers begin to search for gold at 10 AM and work until sunset, often working second jobs in the day in order to survive. (Photo by Borja Sanchez-Trillo/Getty Images)

People dressed in costumes have a break while marching during the Vijanera Festival, in the small village of Silio, northern Spain, Sunday, January 3, 2016. The Vijanera masquerade, of pre-Roman origin, is the first carnival of the year in Europe symbolizing the triumph of good over evil and involving the participation of crowds of residents wearing different masks, animal skins and brightly coloured clothing with its own complex function and symbolism and becoming the living example of the survival of archaic cults to nature. (Photo by Francisco Seco/AP Photo)

A fragment of a Koran manuscript is seen in the library at the University of Birmingham in Britain July 22, 2015. A British university said on Wednesday that fragments of a Koran manuscript found in its library were from one of the oldest surviving copies of the Islamic text in the world, possibly written by someone who might have known Prophet Mohammad. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the parchment folios held by the University of Birmingham in central England were at least 1,370 years old, which would make them one of the earliest written forms of the Islamic holy book in existence. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Reuters)