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A path into history
A path into history
When it comes to tourist destinations, the Wuhou Temple in the city of Chengdu, China, must be among the world"s oldest. It"s been attracting visitors for nearly 1,800 years and remains one of the most popular attractions in all of China. Located in Sichuan province, this temple complex was constructed to honor two principal members of the Shu Han state (221-263) of China"s early Three Kingdoms period. And although the founder of Shu Han, Liu Bei, is honored with his own temple and shrine here, the real headliner is one of China"s most important historical figures, Zhuge Liang, who is remembered as a great wit, scholar, astronomer, statesman, and military strategist. In fact, the name Wuhou itself derives from the Chinese title "Marquis of Wu," which was an honorary title given to Zhuge Liang.Desktop Version
Birds of a feather flocking together
Birds of a feather flocking together
In the fall and spring, thousands of people come to the marshlands of the Wadden Sea, between Denmark and Germany, to watch huge flocks of starlings take flight at sunset. The birds synchronize their movements in a flocking behavior called murmuration. They swoop, shift, and turn as one, creating incredible shapes in the sky.Desktop Version
A light on National Hispanic Heritage Month
A light on National Hispanic Heritage Month
Today marks the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month, a holiday to recognize the vital contributions made by Hispanic and Latino people living in the United States. Why does National Hispanic Heritage Month begin on September 15 and not at the start of the month? The date was chosen because September 15 marks the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras—places from which many Latin Americans in the US and their ancestors have immigrated. The monthlong celebration is marked with events throughout the country, from an annual festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to ceremonies within all branches of the US military.Desktop Version
Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington
Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington
Imagine spending the day hiking amid these moss-covered trees instead of frantically checking items off your holiday shopping list. Welcome to Green Friday, the environmental alternative to Black Friday. The aim is to encourage people to make ethical shopping choices—or to refrain from shopping altogether and embrace nature instead.Desktop Version
International Rock Day
International Rock Day
International Rock Day, on July 13, celebrates these hardy heroes, which have played a big part in human history since at least the Stone Age. They served as humanity"s first tools and as nature"s journals, protecting ancient fossils and documenting changes caused by geological processes.Desktop Version
Llama Day
Llama Day
Prick up your ears and crane your neck—it"s National Llama Day. Part of a family that includes camels, alpacas, and guanacos, llamas have long been domesticated in South America because of their hardiness and ability to thrive on the bleak vegetation in the mountains and plateaus of the Andes. At up to 6 feet tall and weighing up to 400 pounds, they were used primarily as pack animals for about 6,500 years. They were also bred as a source of food, hides, tallow for candles, dung for fuel, and fabric. While inferior to alpaca and guanaco wool, llama fleece is soft, warm, durable, and fairly lightweight. It"s used for clothing, rugs, and rope.Desktop Version
Grand finish of Le Tour
Grand finish of Le Tour
After a three-week jaunt around France, cycling"s most prestigious race concludes today with a triumphant procession into Paris before a sprint finish on the iconic Champs-Élysées. The 21st and final stage of this year"s Tour de France—the 108th edition of the famous event—begins in Chatou, a town in the western suburbs of Paris along the River Seine. Tour tradition dictates the overall race leader isn"t challenged on the last day, so it starts out as a victory parade for the champion-elect, who will be wearing a yellow jersey, posing for pictures, and sipping a glass of champagne along the route. But when the riders reach the heart of Paris, the pace picks up as they dash along the Champs-Élysées, a tree-lined promenade often described as the "most beautiful avenue in the world."Desktop Version
Siblings Day
Siblings Day
We"re in Kenya"s Amboseli National Park today to celebrate Siblings Day with these baby African elephant twins and their mom. Siblings Day is celebrated every April 10 in parts of the US and other areas of the world. In 1995, Claudia Evart, who lost her siblings at a young age, created this holiday and established the Siblings Day Foundation, which is working to get the holiday officially recognized in the US alongside Mother"s Day and Father"s Day. India"s Raksha Bandhan is the oldest sibling holiday that is still widely observed today, usually falling in August. Hindu women commemorate this day by wrapping a band around their brothers" wrists as a sign of mutual care and respect. If this seems like too much, maybe just pick up the phone and give a loved one a call.Desktop Version
Nature Photography Day
Nature Photography Day
Towering trees, rushing streams, and luminous fireflies combine to create this magical landscape in Tennessee"s Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park is famous for its firefly season between May and June when these "lightning bugs" gather to put on a light show as part of a mating display. Today, we celebrate the anniversary of this magnificent national park, as well as Nature Photography Day. There may be no better subject than the lightning bug to mark the day—as photography is the art of capturing light in lasting images.Desktop Version
World Sea Turtle Day
World Sea Turtle Day
Happy World Sea Turtle Day! Today people around the world gather to clean beaches and help animals like this hawksbill sea turtle thrive. The largest populations of hawksbill sea turtles are found in the Caribbean, Indian, and Indo-Pacific Oceans but you"ll find sea turtles in every ocean, except the Arctic and Antarctic.Desktop Version
National Napping Day
National Napping Day
It"s tiring losing that hour of sleep as the clocks "spring forward," so let"s relax for a while with these champion nappers, in Tanzania"s Serengeti National Park. One of the most spectacular wildlife ecosystems on the planet, the park is home to rhinos, leopards, elephants, giraffes—and a huge lion population. The grassland here is dotted with rock formations that stick out like islands, the largest of which, the simba kopjes, are popular hangouts for lions and are said to have inspired Pride Rock in "The Lion King." In the heat of the Serengeti, lush trees provide the perfect shelter for lions to take a nap and reenergize. We hope you are as cozy as you curl up and recuperate on National Napping Day.Desktop Version
I am the walrus
I am the walrus
This herd of gentle giants is bobbing in the waters of the Svalbard archipelago, roughly midway between continental Norway and the North Pole. Walruses spend more than half their day in the water, masterfully foraging for clams and other marine organisms. The rest of the time, they hang out on ice floes, the males and females huddled separately, taking a break before diving in for more food. Walruses launch from the ice to eat, making the floating blocks an important part of their survival. With the effects of climate change increasing, Arctic ice is melting, posing an existential threat to the ancient pinnipeds.Desktop Version
Ministry of Fun Santa School
Ministry of Fun Santa School
If Kriss Kringle himself stood among this lineup of rigorously trained substitute Santas, you"d never know it: These certified Saint Nicks have done their ho-ho-homework. They"re students of the Ministry of Fun Santa School—each year the Ministry of Fun trains dozens of "Father Christmases" (as Santa Claus is known here in London). Skilled in the art of helping Santa to be in many places at once, Santa School graduates will soon be in demand at department stores across jolly England.Desktop Version
Lobster tales
Lobster tales
It"s peak lobster season in Maine, and colorful wooden buoys like these are marking lobster traps (or "pots") along the state"s coastline. Each lobsterman or woman has a unique color and pattern to their buoys, and designs are frequently passed down through generations. When not being put to use, lobster buoys are often hung from the sides of barns and sheds—they"re an iconic sight in coastal Maine.Desktop Version
Blue Lagoon spa, Grindavík, Iceland
Blue Lagoon spa, Grindavík, Iceland
Let"s be frank here, the origin of today"s beautiful picture is a pool of wastewater from a nearby geothermal plant. While that may not sound enticing, Iceland"s Blue Lagoon is one of the country"s most-visited attractions. The trick is to not get stuck on the "waste" part of wastewater. The water here is clean, always hovers around 100° F, and is enriched with tons of silica—which is what makes it blue—and sulfur, thanks to the plant"s processes. Those minerals, along with a little algae, are believed to combine into a highly beneficial tonic for skin and overall well-being.Desktop Version
Friendship Day in the City of Brotherly Love
Friendship Day in the City of Brotherly Love
What better place to celebrate Friendship Day than in the heart of Philadelphia–specifically, Love Park (aka John F. Kennedy Plaza), home of Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculpture. If you’re thinking to yourself that you’ve seen this sculpture before–but in New York or maybe Chicago?--you’re not wrong. It’s a popular piece that’s been reproduced dozens of times, even in different languages. In fact, you’ll find an AMOR sculpture not far from here, just outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Desktop Version
Cumberland Island National Seashore
Cumberland Island National Seashore
Along the southernmost stretch of Georgia"s Atlantic coast are several barrier islands, and Cumberland is the largest. The US National Park Service (NPS) protects 9,800 acres of the island"s wilderness, a place where, as the NPS says, nature and history meet. Human occupation on Cumberland Island touches on numerous milestones in the story of America.Desktop Version
Maldives
Maldives
Heart-shaped islands are more common than you might guess and can be found at many latitudes and longitudes. This one in the archipelago nation of the Maldives is hard to top for its beauty. A flight over this tropical gem might make for the most memorable Valentine"s Day ever.Desktop Version
Dunes at White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Dunes at White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Today"s image features the dazzling beauty of White Sands National Park, New Mexico—a surreal expanse of glistening white gypsum dunes, the largest of its kind on Earth. Spanning more than 145,000 acres, these ever-shifting dunes rise up to 60 feet tall, creating a landscape not seen in many places. This park isn"t only a natural wonder but a historical treasure, with fossilized human footprints dating back as far as 23,000 years, some of the oldest in North America.Desktop Version
White Desert National Park, Egypt
White Desert National Park, Egypt
Snow, in the desert? Not quite. Today we"re in Egypt"s White Desert, which gets its colorful name from an abundance of chalk, limestone, and quartz rock formations that give the sand its special hue. Tourists flock to this place to see these naturally occurring structures, honed over thousands of years into unique shapes through a process known as differential weathering. Located about five hours to the southwest of Cairo, White Desert National Park is a lot more than just deteriorating rocks—it"s also a protected refuge for several endangered animal species.Desktop Version
Celebrating Chile’s Independence Day
Celebrating Chile’s Independence Day
That’s the Villarrica volcano providing fireworks for our observance of Chile’s Independence Day celebrations—called Fiestas Patrias—taking place September 18 and 19. The second-most active volcano in South America, Villarrica is known to the indigenous Mapuche people as Rucapillán (Devil’s House). The eruption shown in this photo, which was taken on September 2, 2018, alarmed nearby residents, but it wasn’t nearly as destructive as other relatively recent eruptions, like one in 2015 that prompted authorities to evacuate thousands of people.Desktop Version
Festivus
Festivus
For polar bears, the airing of grievances is a feat of strength in itself. These big fellas are frequent sights here in Churchill, Manitoba, where hundreds of bears converge in the winter to hunt, but we"re still calling this light-bathed snapshot a Festivus miracle!Desktop Version
Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire, England
Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire, England
What better way to spend Halloween than with a ghostly apparition in a scary haunted forest? Today we"ve (ill-advisedly?) wandered into Wychwood, an English forest with more than its share of spooky backstory. Many people walking in these woods have reported unexplained phenomena, such as feeling a hand on their shoulder and turning to find…no one. Or hearing children wailing as they"re driven through the forest in a ghostly horse-drawn carriage.Desktop Version
Jazzed for Mardi Gras
Jazzed for Mardi Gras
To celebrate the Big Easy"s enduring legacy of music, we"re in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans for Fat Tuesday. As Carnival season culminates today with Mardi Gras celebrations throughout the city, this historically black neighborhood adjacent to the French Quarter will come alive with the music of jazz bands like the one depicted here. The sculptural profile of a traditional marching brass band marks one entrance to Louis Armstrong Park, a community space honoring New Orleans" musical roots with a 12-foot statue of its jazz legend namesake, as well as other art pieces depicting iconic NOLA musicians.Desktop Version
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter!
Humans have been decorating eggs for Easter for centuries, but decorated ostrich eggs have been found from as far back as 60,000 years ago, long before the Christian festival began. The Easter egg has long been a symbol of fertility and rebirth, but exactly why people started decorating them is unclear. One theory is that, because animal products were not eaten during the religious Lenten season, people would hard-boil the eggs and decorate them with dye and wax, until they could be eaten at Easter. A more opulent type of decorated egg, Fabergé eggs, were famously created as bejeweled Easter gifts to the Russian imperial family. Our homepage image shows eggs from Lithuania, where people use traditional methods to paint patterns with wax using sharp objects or etch patterns into dyed eggs.Desktop Version