Vali, a bear at the Budapest Zoo, pulls a drowning crow out of the water and then turns his attention back to his lunch of fruits and vegetables. [📹 Aleksander Medveš]

At Península Valdés in Argentina, orcas risk everything in a daring hunt for sea lions, using a remarkable technique that exploits the region’s rare flat, pebble-strewn beaches. During high tide, they surge onto shore with a powerful tail thrust, snatch their prey, and then wiggle-slide back into the water. These beaches are uniquely suited for such precision hunting—their gentle slopes and smooth pebbles reduce the risk of getting fatally stranded, while the tides provide just enough momentum and depth to support the orca’s 12,000-pound body. Sea lions, clumsy on land and clustered near the water’s edge, are especially vulnerable here, giving the orcas a high chance of success. But with this strategy comes extreme danger: a miscalculation of the tide’s narrow window can leave an orca beached, unable to move its massive body back to sea. Without water to buoy it, the orca’s weight compresses its lungs and heart, leading to slow suffocation, organ failure, and dehydration under the relentless sun. A tragic example occurred in 2022 when a pregnant orca died after becoming stranded. Few places on Earth offer the perfect combination of flat terrain, predictable tides, and concentrated prey that make this behavior possible. That’s why Península Valdés remains one of the only places where orcas regularly risk it all in this breathtaking, high-stakes hunt—where survival depends on split-second decisions. [📹 facundo._.garcia]

A stunning clip captured without flash or artificial light at Zimanga Private Game Reserve, South Africa. The photographer patiently spent three nights in a hide, waiting for this incredible moment with a pride of lions. [📹 Varun Aditya]

Adorable little oink! 🐷💖

A rare sighting of the critically endangered Arabian Leopard, recorded in the Dhofar Mountains in southern Oman by Steve Backshall.

An incredible "megapod" of dolphins spotted off the coast of California. [📹 taylor.parent]

This is a rhombic egg-eater, a non-venomous and completely harmless snake: it mimics vipers as a defense display.

This clip shows a headless turtle being gutted like some grim, formerly living piñata. At first, I thought of comparing it to one of those snake-in-a-can toys from the '80s… but then realized that might as well have been 800 years ago. It’s hard to fathom living like this—knowing, or perhaps never realizing—that at any moment in its short life, where few creatures die of old age, it could be chased down, decapitated, and hollowed out by a sea lion… all while other sentient beings casually observe from a boat. Once the life is gone, it’s gone. The physical body might linger longer, but the turtle itself vanishes, reduced to mere fuel for another creature's day. The sea lion doesn’t pause to reflect on the life it just ended; it acts on instinct, participating in the relentless cycle of survival that governs nature. In this system, individual lives don’t matter—only the continuation of species through the balance of births and deaths. I swear this was going somewhere. [📹 soykb23]

A fennec fox is happy to see its owner.

Watch these big cats having a blast sliding down an icy slope! 🐯❄️🥹

A black heron using its wings like an umbrella, creating shade to attract fish, a behavior known as canopy feeding.

The incredible mimicry and concealed beauty of the Indian Leaf Butterfly (Kallima paralekta). With their wings closed, they perfectly resemble a dead leaf, providing effective camouflage from predators. [📹 Melissa_yung]

Ruby and Bokasi, an okapi and a duiker, two animals with much different sizes who became friends and the San Diego Zoo. [📹 sandiegozoo]

These two mating lions chose the wrong spot to start their family, and the local rhinos wasted no time in making their objections known. Rhinoceroses—especially males—are fiercely territorial and not particularly fond of sharing their space with other animals. When those animals are lions, the tension escalates. While adult rhinos aren’t typically threatened by lions, their calves certainly are, making lions unwelcome neighbors. Regardless of what the lions were up to—in this case, mating—the rhinos made it clear they’d prefer the big cats take their business elsewhere. [📹 rashid\_billow]

Harambe died 9 years ago

Check out this beaver having the cutest morning bath! 🛁🥹

The peculiar feeding behavior of Sanderlings involves chasing waves to consume invertebrate prey, which are drawn to the upper layers of sand by the plankton and detritus carried in with each wave.

This is what an overweight Sphynx cat looks like

The Matsuba koi is admired for its distinctive scales that resemble pinecone patterns — fitting, as ‘Matsuba’ means ‘pine needle’ in Japanese. Its unique eyelines can sometimes create the illusion of a human-like face when viewed from certain angles.

Sometimes, what starts as an innocent attempt to photograph some adorable wood ducklings can take a sudden, grim turn. These little ones, already vulnerable without their mother, stood little chance on their own. From the perspective of the hawk—who will soon enter the frame—this is an opportunity too good to pass up. With no mother duck to defend them, the raptor is free to make her choice from the unguarded brood. As the slow-motion footage shows, she initially attempts to grab two at once, but ultimately settles for just one. It’s important to remember: the hawk, too, has young to feed. As difficult as it may be to witness life end so abruptly, this is not a flaw in nature’s design, but an essential part of it. Nature runs on cycles of survival, predation, and loss—a reality that, while harsh, is fundamental to the ecosystem’s balance. [📹 sean_isnt_rich]