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THIS is the moment a lucky diver miraculously escaped death after nearly being swallowed by a 40-tonne whale. Rainer Schimpf, 47, was filming the annual sardine run when a 15m Bryde’s whale attacked a ball of fish below him. Luckily the giant mammal swerved at the last moment to avoid sucking him into its gaping mouth – but it still gave him a shock as it breached just yards away. He

Shoots Finnish Forest Animals Like They’re Professional Models, And We Can’t Stop Looking At Them By​ Greta J. Helsinki-based artist Joachim Munter invites you to step into the fairytale-like wildlife of Finland through his photos. Viewing his portraits of local forest animals, you instantly feel an intimate connection with the subjects, having to pinch yourself to check if you aren't d

Prepare to fall in love and have your heart broken at the same time: this adorable creature that you’ve probably never heard of, the Ili Pika, is also one of the rarest and most endangered creatures in the world. Their population in their native China is estimated to have dropped to less than 1,000, and these photos are of the first one that has been spotted in 20 years. The Ili Pika was firs

For most of us, endangered animals are a far-away mystery. British photographer Tim Flach, however, has spent the last 2 years braving their habitats and documenting their fragile existences. The resulting body of work, Endangered, provides us with an intimate and rare view into the beautiful lives of Earth's most threatened creatures, and reminds us of everything we should be afraid to lose. F

We’ve written about how the world around us changes during the winter, but that’s not the only thing that changes; throughout the animal kingdom, birds and beasts that live in colder climates have special adaptations to help them survive the winter’s harsh weather. The animals in some of these photos may look like they’re freezing, but that’s not 100% certain – in most cases, the ph

These adorable flying squirrels are found in Japan and in Europe, from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific coast, and fall under the category of Old World flying squirrels. They don’t hibernate, but in the winter, they sometimes sleep for several days at a time. Flying squirrels don’t actually fly: they glide using a furry membrane or patagium between their front and rear legs. Using this membran

Do sperm whales sleep? It’s not a question that gets asked frequently, but when it does, none is the wiser to answer it. That’s until now, of course, because now we have photo proof of just how these ocean giants nap. Pro underwater photographer Franco Banfi was the one who snapped the extremely rare photo while following a pack of sperm whales in the Caribbean Sea, near Dominica Island.

The bond between humans and animals can be incredibly close. And I’m not just talking about pets like dogs and cats. Sometimes, even wild animals can become as close to us humans as our own families. After Brantley Harrison and her family rescued an injured squirrel in 2009, they released her back into the wild and didn’t expect to see her again. But eight years later, the squirrel, whom