A worker restores the lead of one of the sculptures forming the Apollo's Chariot Fountain by Jean-Baptiste Tuby depicting Louis XIV, the god of the sun, driving his four-horse chariot full pelt, symbolising the ascent of the rising sun, at The Coubertin Foundry in Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse, southwestern Paris, on July 10, 2023. This 18-month project will involve a wide range of skills and will enable the rebirth of this fountain at the Versailles' castle. (Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP Photo)

Female soldiers of Tigray Defence Force (TDF) celebrate while they sit on men's shoulders as people celebrate their return on a street in Mekele, the capital of Tigray region, Ethiopia, on June 29, 2021. Rebel fighters in Ethiopia's war-hit Tigray seized control of more territory on June 29, 2021, one day after retaking the local capital and vowing to drive all “enemies” out of the region. (Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP Photo)

This little kingfisher clearly didn't read the sign when it landed itself a minnow in a no fishing zone. Taxi driver Paul Bird, 52, from Newmarket, Suffolk, UK, captured this amusing moment whilst out looking to photograph kingfishers in Norfolk, an hour drive from his home. Paul explained: “There are a total of six perches the bird was using from which to fish, one of them being the No Fishing sign”. (Photo by Paul Bird/Solent News & Photo Agency)

This photo provided by the McKinney Fire Department shows officials at the site of a crash involving a small plane and a vehicle near Aero Country Airport, Saturday, November 11, 2023, in McKinney, Texas. Authorities say a small plane overshot the runway while trying to land at a Texas airport and struck a car that was driving along a nearby road, injuring one person. (Photo by McKinney Fire Department via AP Photo)

One morning, this Redditor woke up to his front porch completely riddled with holes. It looked like some gang members spewed buckshot at his doorstep during a drive-by. These holes were made by acorn woodpeckers. The little birds created their own granaries or “acorn trees” to store their food. They do so by drilling holes into whatever they can, sometimes resulting in this kind of damage.

“Cassowaries are large, flightless birds related to emus and (more distantly) to ostriches, rheas, and kiwis”, writes Olivia Judson in the September issue of National Geographic magazine. How large? People-size: Adult males stand well over five foot five and top 110 pounds. Females are even taller, and can weigh more than 160 pounds. Dangerous when roused, they’re shy and peaceable when left alone. But even birds this big and tough are prey to habitat loss. The dense New Guinea and Australia rain forests where they live have dwindled. Today cassowaries might number 1,500 to 2,000. And because they help shape those same forests – by moving seeds from one place to another – “if they vanish”, Judson writes, “the structure of the forest would gradually change” too. (Photo by Christian Ziegler/National Geographic)

These heartbreaking photo show a confused family of elephants attempting to navigate a railway line built straight through their habitat on October 16, 2012. Taken by Biplab Hazra in Bishnupur, India, the images show the extreme lengths the inhabitants of the town go to to deter elephants from damaging their crops and property. As the images show, villagers often resort to extreme tactics in an effort to drive the elephants out with one shocking photograph revealing firebombs being launched at a mother and calf as they cross the road. Elephants encroaching out of their habitats is an increasingly common occurrence with deforestation in much of India. (Photo by Biplab Hazra/Caters News Agency)