Ultra- trailers compete at sunrise on September 2, 2017 in Courmayeur, Italy, during the 15 th edition of the Mount Blanc Ultra Trail (UTMB), a 170 km race around the Mont Blanc crossing France, Italy and Switzerland. The 15 th Ultra- Trail du Mont- Blanc (UTMB) is a mountain ultramarathon with numerous passages in high altitude (>2500 m) and in difficult weather conditions (night, wind, cold, rain or snow). (Photo by Jeff Pachoud/AFP Photo)

In Jukkasjärvi, a village a few miles east of Kiruna, the proprietors of one hotel begin planning for a winter ice festival in March. That’s when they begin collecting some 5,000 tons of ice from the River Torne in order to prepare the Icehotel, the world’s coolest place to stay. Options for overnight stay include snow rooms, ice rooms, art suites, and the Northern Lights room, all of which range from about $300 to $900 per night. But the deluxe suite’s the only way to go. These rooms come with a critical amenity: heated ensuite bathrooms and saunas. Here: A man walks into a room in the Ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, December 16, 2015. (Photo by Ints Kalnins/Reuters)

The report, prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, showed Syria, Afghanistan and eight sub-Saharan countries as the 10 least happy places on earth to live. The top 10 this year were Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden. Denmark was in third place last year, behind Switzerland and Iceland. The bottom 10 were Madagascar, Tanzania, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi. The United States came in at 13, the United Kingdom at 23, France at 32, and Italy at 50. Here: #8. NEW ZEALAND: A woman dives from a platform into a giant air bed at a park in Palmerston North September 29, 2011. (Photo by Marcos Brindicci/Reuters)

“The Rothschild Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) is among the most endangered giraffe subspecies with only a few hundred members in the wild. It is named after the famous family of the Tring Museum's founder, Lord Walter Rothschild, and is also known as the Baringo Giraffe, after the Lake Baringo area of Kenya, or as the Ugandan Giraffe. All of those that are living in the wild are in protected areas in Kenya and Uganda. (Recently it has been proposed that the Rothschild Giraffe is actually a separate species from other giraffes and not a giraffe subspecies).” – Wikipedia

Photo: Margaret, the 10-day-old Giraffestands beside Chester Zoo keeper Tim Rowlands on January 30, 2008, in Chester, England. Margaret is the first Rothschild giraffe born at the zoo. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Wendy Adriaens, owner of animal rescue farm “De Passiehoeve” and nicknamed the Ostrich Whisperer, poses for a photo with three-year-old male ostrich Flodder, in Kalmthout, Belgium, 25 July 2022. (Photo by Stephanie Lecocq/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

This undated handout photograph released by Stony Brook University/ Louisiana State University on March 2, 2018, shows an Adélie penguin looking at a drone at breeding colony on Heroina Island, Danger Islands, Antarctica. A thriving “hotspot” of some 1.5 million Adelie penguins has been discovered on the remote Danger Islands in the east Antarctic, surprised scientists announced on March 2, 2018. (Photo by Rachael Herman/AFP Photo/Louisiana State University AND Stony Brook University)

Alluvial Fan, China. A vast alluvial fan blossoms across the desolate landscape between the Kunlun and Altun mountain ranges that form the southern border of the Taklimakan Desert in China’s XinJiang Province. Image taken by the ASTER instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite on May 2nd, 2002. (Photo by NASA/GSFC/USGS EROS Data Center)

Igor Shpilenok works in the reserve at Kamchatka, Russia. Igor is a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and a winner of the 2006 BBC Wildlife Photographer Competition. Igor’s work has been published in numerous international and Russian magazines, including Smithsonian, National Wildlife, Geo, and BBC Wildlife.

“How does a bear behave when encounter a human? In most cases he runs away. But before running he almost always would rise to stand on his rear feet. And this behavior does not indicate the attack, as many people think...” – Igor Shpilenok. (Photo by Igor Shpilenok via Wildlife Photo Russia)