Ahhhh, Nature: You’re supposed to be relaxing and beautiful, but sometimes you catch us off guard with destruction, and death. What’s up with that? Here are sixty photos from nature that are breathtaking, inspiring, and downright scary! Check these out, and then maybe stay inside.

Hitting Close to Home

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This man seems awfully calm considering the Phares dans La Tempete lighthouse, in France, that he is hanging out in is about to be completely submerged under a gigantic wave. Good thing he kept his head on straight, because he was somehow able to survive this hit. He must have been a boy scout. Great job!

Enough to Share with the Whole Class

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This woman heard some noises outside of her campsite and came out to this crazy sight! Despite researchers saying raccoons are solitary creatures, this photo shows over twenty furry friends just waiting for their photo op!

Speaking of photo ops…

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Our mothers always told us to go inside when it’s storming. This woman’s mom thought it was the perfect photo op for her daughter. The looming tornado is giving her that “windblown” look that will certainly make her headshots stand out!

This little piggy didn’t go to market.

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We hope that this little dude survived his desperate escape attempt. We like to think that he not only survived, but he thrived. FREEDOM! You go, little piggy!

Who? On a WHAT?

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Check out this photo of good ol’ Teddy Roosevelt riding a moose across a river in 1908. It was published in the New York Tribune in 1912. Wait… What? It’s fake? So apparently politics haven’t changed that much. Ignore this one.

Nightmare Material

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This picture is supposed to be adorable. Unfortunately I fail to see the “cute.” Nevertheless, this photo shows a mama Wolf Spider carrying her dozens of babies. Somebody get this lady a Baby Bjorn… or 100, STAT!

The Little Mermaid

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This unsettling photo of a Beluga Whale is the reason sailors have mistaken them for “mermaids” for centuries. The weird knees they have definitely make them look part human. Freaky! Put a wig on this one and let’s start that Little Mermaid remake!

Watch where you step!

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This little elephant was not watching where it was going and it fell right into a manhole. Thankfully, with some human intervention, the little fella was freed and reunited with his family. Maybe next time he will watch where he steps!

Killer Croc

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This 28 foot behemoth of a crocodile was killed with a single shot by Polish immigrant Krystina Pawlowski. She killed the enormous croc in Queensland, Australia. Her loud personality, charm, good looks, and mad shooting skills earned her a much-deserved spot in the Guinness World Records. You go, girl!

Hope He Didn’t Skip Leg Day

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This amazing photo was taken in Alaska, where natives know not to mess with mama bears (or any bears really!). This guy learned the lesson the hard way when he found himself peddling for his life when a bear decided to chase him. Maybe the bear just wanted to play – but we wouldn’t have stuck around to find out either!

Movie Stars

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Do you remember the turtles that Rocky brought home to Adrian in the movie Rocky? Well, this is them, forty years later! Sylvester Stallone kept them as pets, and they still hang out to this very day. We are so glad the fame didn’t go to their heads.

Magalodon

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… and we thought Great Whites were scary! Look at this image of a huge Great White Shark inside of the jaws of the ancient Magalodon. These beasts went extinct in the Pliocene Era, but when they lived they could get up to 60 feet long and weigh up to 40,000 pounds! Maybe it’s not a bad thing for some species to go extinct…

Misleading… but still disturbing

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This photo went viral on the Internet with the caption, “meanwhile, in Australia,” is misleading. If you look closely you can see that it is two photos pieced together. Still pretty freaky! The top photo depicts a dingo eating a shark, and the bottom shows two very large snakes getting’ jiggy with it. Separate or not, neither picture is making us want to visit Australia anytime soon!

Look! In the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s…

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…GOATS! In trees! These tree-climbing goats are very common in Morocco, where the Argania tree is common. This tree has nuts that are irresistible to goats. These nuts must be great; we can’t think of any other reason a dozen goats would be in a tree!

We are supposed to fly WHERE?

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This astonishing photograph is of B-25 bomber jets flying over a very angry Mt. Vesuvius in Italy. This volcano looks past its due date, and after what it did to Pompeii in 79 AD, we think we would be getting out of there!

Uninvited Guest

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Sometimes it is nice to have an uninvited guest stop by. However, when that uninvited guest is a gigantic, angry bear. We would love to say this one had a happy ending, but it ended rather tragically when this beast killed the photographer, Michigan Hosshino. As sad as it is, this photograph won the Wildlife Photograph Award in 1996, after his life was taken by this bear while on assignment in Russia.

FINE. I guess I’ll share.

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This dog looks quite perturbed that his meal is being stolen – but at least she knows better than to mess with the sneaky skunk. Sometimes you just have to let the bad guys win; particularly when they are armed with a spray with a scent so foul it lingers for days. Good girl!

There’s No Place Like Home

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This photo of a very nasty-looking tornado in Oklahoma seems tame by today’s storm chasing standards, BUT this photo was taken in 1898… with a real camera! Pretty cool.

Nightmare Material, Take 2:

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Well we aren’t sleeping tonight! This hermit crab has found a human skull to be his new home. We get it, bro! We’ll stop eating crabs! Just let us live!

Now THAT’S a nose!

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This Star Nosed Mole is pretty rare, and pretty frightening-looking. However, this dude is pretty cool. The sensory organ on the little fella’s nose is called the Elmer’s organ. This organ gives the Star Nosed Mole extra sensory perception. I know I’d love to have ESP… but not if my nose has to look like that.

Memory Foam Sky

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These mammatus clouds were photographed after a violent tornado ripped through Nebraska. The unique shape of these fluffy clouds is due to cold air dropping down into a cloud sack of warm air. I want to sleep on them!

Seagulls are Friends, Not Food

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This majestic bald eagle caught itself the perfect seagull dinner… but wait! The seagull’s friend was not ready to let him go. I don’t think the eagle stood a chance against the two of them! (Or maybe the eagle went home with two dinners).

Enormous Exotic Animals Make Grrrrrreat Pets!

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This is picture of Tippi Hedren and her pet tiger on the set of her movie Roar in 1981. The movie starred Tippi and her husband Noel Marshall, and Tippi’s daughter Melanie Griffith, and it was one of the most dangerous movies filmed to date. At the end of filming, 70 crew and cast members of Roar were injured – some seriously so. Maybe re-think the pet tiger, Tippi.

The Rarest of the Rare

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This is Qizai, the only known Brown Panda Bear alive in the world. This cute guy should feel so special! Pandas are already rare, but this guy had to take it up a notch.

Sky by Bob Ross

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This is an actual, unedited photo of a stunning sky over Moscow. The sunlight shone through the clouds just right and it created a sky so beautiful and dramatic, it looked like an oil painting! Absolutely breathtaking

Crikey!

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We couldn’t compile a list of nature photos without including the late, wonderful Steve Irwin, and his awesome wife Terri. Steve Irwin won our hearts with his kind heart, big personality, and love of animals – mostly the ones nobody else loved! The Crocodile Hunter will go down in history as one of the best wildlife educational prog

Can I borrow some bleach for my eyes?

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This monstrocity is the Atretochoana eiselti. Unfortunately for this species, that name didn’t stick and people just call it the “penis snake.” Hm… we wonder why…

Mega Manta

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This Manta Ray shows us just how gigantic these sea creatures really are. It’s incredibly how easily they seem to fly through the ocean despite their enormous size.

Catatumbo

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This is special Catatumbo lightning that is unique to the Catatumbo River in Venezuela. This atmospheric marvel happens between 140-160 nights per year, and this is the only place in the world in happens!

No Service

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This cell phone tower probably isn’t doing its job at the moment, as it seems to be frozen solid with tons of ice. Let’s hope this man got down safely!

Whole Lotta Lightning

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This photographer captured 6 huge lightning strikes in a thunderstorm over Lake Michigan. Despite its innate danger, lightning sure does make for a beautiful photo!

Hard Pass!

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This King Cobra bit and killed a Python with its potent venom, but it was too late! Because the Python already had the Cobra in its death grip, both snakes died. This is seriously nightmare material!

UFO?

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These disc-shaped clouds are often mistaken as UFOs due to their shape. These lens-shaped clouds are formed when wind down the mountain interrupts the natural flow. They are very cool to see, but sadly they aren’t anything out of this world.

Blue Ice

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This gigantic, bright blue wall of ice is an arctic phenomenon. The wall of ice is 50 feet tall, and so thick that blue is the only color reflected when light shines through.

Black Jaguar

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This rare beauty is a black leopard. This fierce feline is as deadly as it is beautiful. Look at the size of those claws! We will admire this guy from a distance!

Lightning Exposed

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Photographer Darren Pearson used long exposure on his camera to get this impeccable photo of lightning directly striking a tree. The long exposure lets the viewer see the light and energy radiated from the tree. Look at those cool colors!

Neither Seen Nor Heard

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This clever cat used its street smarts to hide from these drooling Dobermans. We guess Garfield was right all along – cats are smarter than dogs. Sorry Odie!

Tasmanian Wonders

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This photograph of 4 Tasmanian Tigers was taken in 1910. The photo was taken at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania in Australia. Unfortunately these beautiful creatures are extinct today, and this was one of the last photos taken of them.

Calamari Time

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This crab got sick of being a delicacy and decided to be the consumer this time. You can see him and his starfish pals feasting on this dead squid. Survival of the fittest!

A Little Push?

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This ship, Endurance, ran out of endurance when it became stuck on ice in the Antarctic Ocean in 1915. The ship did not survive the crash and never made it to the South Pole. With the size of that ice, the poor ship never stood a chance.

Unlikely Friends

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Polar bears are known as being volatile, angry killers. This Soviet Soldier risked his life to help feed this family of bears, and Mama Bear looks extremely grateful. Look at those cute babies! In 1950 polar bears in Russia were starving, so it wasn’t unusual for soldiers to feed them scraps.

Morning Glory Clouds

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These are called Morning Glory Clouds and they are extremely rare. They are only formed when low-level atmospheric waves cause the clouds to form into tunnels. Very interesting to see!

Bigger in Texas

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This photograph was taken of the Texas State Capitol being hit by tornados on May 4, 1922. This tornado split off into two separate ones that did great damage to the building.

Snow Bunnies

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These cute little balls of fluff are Arctic Hare. They are extremely adaptable and fare well in freezing cold weather. They look like Peeps when they lay down.

Apocalypse

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This incredible photo shows all kinds of bad news. A tornado funnel wrapped in lightning beaming with the colors of the sunset. Luckily this tornado never hit the ground – we don’t think that would’ve had a happy ending! This photo is amazing,

The Evolution of a Tornado

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This photograph was spliced together from seven different pictures. These all show the viewer the evolution of a tornado – starting from a tendril and ending with an ominous, black funnel.

Fishing Hack:

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Are you tired of coming home from fishing trips empty-handed? Take a tip from Mother Nature and try simply striking the water with lightning, the fish will never stand a chance! Water is a GREAT conductor for electricity and when lightning hits a body of water like this, any living things in the water will no longer be living. So when it’s lightning, stay out of the pool!

Giza and the Milky Way

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This astonishing photograph was taken at the pyramids at Giza. In the picture you can see the ancient beauty of the pyramids and the beautiful stars of the Milky Way in the background. This photo is truly breathtaking.

Picturesque

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This photograph looks like another Bob Ross masterpiece, but it’s not! This view is real, and it has it all – water, mountains, trees, and clouds. Magnificent!

Ball Lightning

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This is a picture of a natural phenomenon called Ball Lightning. Ball Lightning is completely unexplained by scientists, but it has been witnessed many times. Some say that when it vanishes it lets off a strong smell of sulfur. It’s very beautiful, but still very dangerous, so stay inside!

Pyramids: Take 2

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This immaculate picture shows the sun setting behind the ancient pyramid at Giza. You can also see the Great Sphinx in the photo too. It is amazing to see Mother Nature lighting up these manmade monuments.

Fluffy Little Critters

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What are these little things? They are Honduran Bats (often called “White Bats”). They shelter together and snuggle for warmth and safety. How can bats be this cute?

Another UFO?

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This spacecraft is actually a photograph of a Deep Sea Jellyfish. These creatures are fascinating. They lack a brain, blood, and bones. Some of them have deadly stings though, so stay away!

Another Kansas Storm

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The Midwest sure can grow some mean thunderstorms. This supercell in Howard, Kansas is absolutely stunning, but also very deadly. Take shelter if you see a storm like this coming your way!

Mad Mother Nature

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Lightning and an erupting volcano? Yikes! This volcano in Chile erupted 3 times during the month of April in 2015 and many people had to evacuate to safer places. We would definitely be evacuating too!

Toddler Tantrum

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Human toddlers are known for being a little volatile at times. This photo shows that baby elephants are no different. This little fellow decided to lie down and throw a fit. But like most moms, his seems to be used to it.

Line in the Ocean

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This beautiful picture shows how the differences in a water’s density, temperature, and salinity can keep them separate. When this happens, a demarcation line appears between the two types of water in the same body of water.

My Turn!

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This cute little Black Bear cub is just enjoying a nice ride down the slide. Bears are very playful, and it’s not uncommon to see them playing in places that humans inhabit.

Wicked Waterspout

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This huge, twisty water spout looks like an elephant’s trunk. This incredible photo was taken in Tampa Bay, Florida, where waterspouts like this are not uncommon.

Spiderman Capabilities

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This photograph is a spider’s foot under a microscope. Super creepy! This is how spiders (and Toby McGuire) can walk up walls and ceilings with ease.

Nature can be beautiful, funny, scary, and ugly. But it’s always majestic and to be respected. We hope you liked these astonishing nature photos!

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