Finn Oakley has spent over five years as a nature and science writer at Discvr.Blog, drawing on his experience at National Geographic Channel. Based in Melbourne, he’s passionate about uncovering the world’s mysteries, dreams of returning to Peru, and enjoys Aussie Bites in his downtime.
The ghost crab is about as big as your hand but as fast as lightning.
The eight-legged little creature moves across sandy beaches at 100 body lengths per second, up to 10 miles per hour. That’s blazing-fast compared to the size of a human and a cheetah, who achieve speeds of 11 and 20 body lengths per second, respectively.
The camouflage king of the sand
Now you see me, now you don’t.
The ghost crab typically burrows deep holes in the sand and reemerges late in the day. They can even adjust their pale colors to match the distinct hues of the grains of sand. So you’d be lucky to spot one of these near-invisible creatures. And if you do, be prepared for it to dash away as soon as it gets a glimpse of you.
But within those stalky eyes, which can also operate like self-cleaning windshield wipers and cute little faces are teeth that growl at predators when threatened. The ghost crab is the first example of an animal that uses its stomach to communicate.
Meanwhile, the crabs survive off insects, small clams, and other sand crabs.
The Potoo bird, or Ghost bird from Central and South America, gives off a startling expression.
The strange-looking bird possesses a hooked snake-like bill with a massive gape the animal uses to swallow moths and other insects.
But even more freaky are their yellow googly eyes that glow up at night. Potoo birds control pupil dilation to optimize incoming light, making them keen nocturnal insectivores.
The ghost bird’s incredible use of camouflage
The potoo bird enjoys excellent camouflage, making it easy to perch upon a tree branch or fence and remain undiscovered and undisturbed during the day.
In addition to looking like a goofy muppet — after all, they look more like frogs than owls, the latter to which they’re unrelated — the bird may be best known for its sound, projecting a creepy melancholic song.
These eery-looking creatures are awkward enough to star in their very own horror movie.
Zlatini Rat, or Golden Cape, is one of Croatia’s most unique and popular beach destinations. It’s not hard to see why.
The magnificent horn-shaped beach resides on the southern coast of the Croatian island of Brac, outside the resort town of Bol.
The 1700-foot white-pebble beach formed by the collision of two currents also runs perpendicularly out like a tongue stretching into the Adriatic sea.
Strong winds and waves constantly modify the beach’s tip, but the overall spit of land stays intact. The soft sand and blue seas of the famous Zlatni rat beach make it one of the best windsurfing and diving spots in the Mediterranean. And no, there are no rats!
There are all types of stunning clouds — Lenticular, Mammatas — to name a couple.
But the asperitas clouds take center stage. These clouds, which are dark and storm-like, look like Van Gogh painted waves in the sky.
Amazing Asperitas over Lummi Island – Probably the best looking clouds that I’ve ever seen here.. 😮 Hope everyone enjoys the video and the cool clouds ☁️#wawx#pnwpic.twitter.com/1d9iHHGEtJ
Asperitas clouds form in the wake of thunderstorms like Mammatus clouds, yet unlike the latter, asperitas clouds appear more turbulent. Rising winds chip at the clouds to give them their unusual, undulating shape that resembles a rough sea surface.
Undulatus Asperitas is a unique and rare cloud formation. They are a new classification, only recognized by the World Meteorological Organization in 2015 — the first new cloud type to emerge in 60 years.
The satanic leaf-tailed gecko (uroplatus phantasticusis) wears many disguises.
It has superior camouflage — special skin that evolved to look like plants — and can also scare away predators by opening its bright red mouth and hiss like a cat.
These geckos can even shed their tail to deceive predators and lick their corneas to keep them moist and dirt-free. Like most geckos, satanic leaf-tailed geckos lack eyelids and can’t blink.
But gook luck finding one of those awesomely named critters. Most satanic leaf-tailed geckos live in the rainforests in the central-east part of Madagascar, an island off the African continent.
The lizard typically rests during the day, using its varying shades of brown and flat tail to blend in with the leaves. Talk about benefiting from natural selection!
After exploiting its camo all day to avoid the mouths of birds and snakes, it goes hunting at night in search of crickets, moths, cockroaches, and snails.
The Patagonian mara of Argentina may be one of the most appealing animals on the planet.
The world’s fourth largest rodent looks like a mashup of a small deer with the long ears and short tail of a rabbit. Along with being a large rodent — they can grow up to 2.5 feet long — the Patagonian mara has powerful, elongated hind legs that allow the animals to escape would-be predators.
A rodent on the run
The mara can sprint at nearly 25 mph, bouncing six feet into the air on all fours. The species is typically on the go, traveling with its monogamous mate across hundreds of forest acres to dig up (look at those strong claws) and munch on plants and fruits.
But these diurnal animals also like to hop around and socialize in their daily communities. They even enjoy a sunbathing now and again.
Pallas’s cats are about the same size as domestic cats — they measure up to 26 inches in length and weigh around 10 pounds. But their body hair is twice as long as the hair on their head, so they appear much larger than they are.
The fluffiest cats of all
That extra coat keeps them warm in their cold habitats spanning the frigid grasslands and montane steppes of the central Asian landscape. The heavy hair, especially on the tail, keeps the cats’ paws warm as they hunt on the frozen tundra.
Pallas’s cats get their name from the zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, the first scientist to describe the species in 1776. He observed them living amongst rock crevices near Lake Baikal, southern Siberia.
Unfortunately, the Pallas’s cat remains endangered due to human poaching and mining, significantly reducing the number of rodents the cat feeds on.
Hidden in the dense, waterlogged forests of Central and South America, the Agami Heron is a bird that even experienced ornithologists may never see in the wild. Known to many as the “ghost of the rainforest,” it slips along shadowy creeks and under mangrove canopies, more often heard than spotted. For those who do encounter one, the moment is unforgettable, a flash of chestnut, blue, and emerald against the dark water before it vanishes again.
Its beauty is undeniable. Adults wear a deep maroon chest and throat, framed by a bold white stripe, with blue-green wings that shimmer in low light. A long, slender neck, proportionally the longest of any heron in the Americas, leads to a sharp bill built for precision strikes.
Short legs keep it close to the surface, where it prefers to hunt from the cover of overhanging branches. In breeding season, both males and females become even more dramatic, their facial skin flushing crimson as wispy silver plumes cascade from the crown and nape.
Despite its elegance, the Agami lives a life of near invisibility. It favors slow-moving streams and secluded swamps, standing motionless for long stretches before striking at small fish, frogs, or aquatic insects.
This stillness, paired with cryptic coloring, makes it nearly impossible to spot unless you know exactly where to look. Even in regions where it’s a year-round resident, it seems almost absent—vanishing into the shadows before a camera can find it.
The bird’s secretive nature extends to its nesting habits. For years, almost nothing was known about where Agamis bred, until researchers discovered that these solitary hunters gather in large, hidden colonies. One of the most remarkable finds came in French Guiana in 2002: nearly 900 nests clustered above flooded forest, reachable only by helicopter.
At night, adults would leave the colony in waves, flying miles through the darkness to feed before returning to their chicks. Such nocturnal foraging during breeding season is rare among herons and still puzzles scientists.
Courtship is a quiet spectacle. Males claim nest sites and display with slow rocking movements, while females, equally adorned in breeding colors, approach and respond with bows, plume-shakes, and a visible blush as their lores turn red. Once paired, both parents share incubation and chick rearing, keeping their young hidden under dense foliage.
The stakes for a rainforest phantom
The Agami Heron’s range stretches from southern Mexico through the Amazon and into central Brazil, but it’s a fragile hold. The species depends on large tracts of undisturbed swamp forest and shaded waterways, exactly the habitats under siege from logging, mining, and agricultural expansion. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists it as Vulnerable, with projections suggesting it could lose a quarter of its suitable habitat in the next few decades.
Colony sites, though few, are especially at risk. Disturbance from human activity or predation can cause entire breeding efforts to fail. In Costa Rica, a spider monkey raid once emptied a colony in days. Some of the largest known nesting areas are protected, but many remain unguarded, their locations known only to local communities and researchers.
Conservation groups are racing to find and safeguard these sites. Efforts include working with indigenous and rural communities to promote ecotourism that values the bird alive rather than exploited, and pushing for the preservation of flooded forests within protected reserves. Still, huge gaps remain in what we know about this species. Scientists can only guess at its global population, and much of its life outside the breeding season remains a mystery.
Perhaps that mystery is part of the Agami Heron’s hold on our imagination. In a world where many species are studied in detail, this bird remains largely unknown—its movements untracked, its habits partly hidden. For birders, a sighting is a prize years in the making. For conservationists, it’s a reminder that protecting wild places means protecting stories still unfolding.
The ghost of the rainforest may be hard to find, but its presence speaks volumes about the richness—and fragility—of the ecosystems it calls home.
The Wave is a sandstone rock formation located in North Coyote Buttes of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument on the Arizona and Utah borders.
The swirling stone waves combine water and wind-eroded sandstone dunes, calcified vertically and horizontally, and fossilized over 190 million years. The rich red-vermilion rocks get their colors from iron oxide pigments.
Only 20 people can visit The Wave in Vermilion Cliffs daily — hence, the lottery and waitlist! The exclusive destination is reachable exclusively by foot through a challenging 6.5-mile round-trip terrain. The distinct rock formation rests 3,000 feet above the benchland below.
The scene offers some of the best photography of public lands in the United States.
