amazing

Cats were as important 2,000 years ago as they are today! Important enough to be etched into the desert among the Nazca lines in Peru. 

In the dun sands of Southern Peru, lays the Nazca lines, hundreds of geometric and zoomorphic images. Figured etched centuries ago with geoglyphs of an orca, what some believe to be an astronaut, a monkey, and a hummingbird. These figures are said to be dated between 200BC and 100BC. And just recently, a new figure has been discovered - the feline. 

An enormous cat Nazca line emerged while officials worked to improve access to one of the hills that would provide a wonderful and natural vantage point, in which a handful of the designs could be seen. 

Peru's culture ministry said in a statement, "The figure was scarcely visible and was about to disappear because it's situated on quite a steep slope that's prone to the effects of natural erosion. Over the past week, the geoglyph was cleaned and conserved, and shows a feline figure in profile, with its head facing the front." 

The new feline discovery is said to be 37meters long.

Johny Isla, Peru's chief archaeologist for the lines, told the Spanish news agency Efe, "It's quite striking that we're still finding new figures, but we also know that there are more to be found."

Isla continues, "Over the past few years, the use of drones has allowed us to take images of hillsides."

Story via The Guardian

Meet the brilliant and talented Simone Giertz! Simone Giertz, as she describes on Youtube, is a "maker/robotics enthusiast/non-engineer." And just recently, Simone Giertz has built an automated photo booth in which dogs can take their very own selfies! How amazing is that? We see tons of dogs photos on the daily but for a dog to take its own selfie? Revolutionary! 

The adorable model is nonother than Simone's pup, Scraps! Scraps was obviously born to be in front of the camera, I mean -- just look at that star quality! This photo booth is absolutely adorable and we definitely want to see more pup selfies in the future!  

Follow Simone Giertz on YouTube and/or Twitter! 

These are some absolutely gorgeous spooky pies! Some aren't so spooky as they are incredible and we just wanted to share them with you. 

The creator behind these magnificent pies is a pie-oneer herself - Jessica Leigh Clark-Boji. A woman who believes pies are awesome and is on a mission to show the world that "not only can pies go head-to-head against the poshest wedding cakes and fancy-pants desserts on the most discerning buffet tables of the world, but that they can be fun and easy to pull off too!"

@Thepieous is a pie-filled Instagram page that's filled with inspiration and incredible art. If you're feeling just as inspired as we are, you can follow Jessica's tutorials on her site, Pies Are Awesome, or following her YouTube channel! 

Some pictures are simply too incredible to be described in anything less than 1000 words. Every week, we bring you some of these pictures. There's so much story within them, whether it's a story of unique animals, 'caught in the act' moments, unexpected relationships, or scheming cats. 

Each of these pictures has a story behind it that we wish we would know. But since most of the times a picture is just a picture, and we don't know what happened to bring such a moment into existence, all we have left to do is imagine. And imagine we do. 

I suspect the reason that this hedgehog is attacking a toy dinosaur is because it's feeling the prehistoric instincts it has from the time during which the hedgehog was the big predator, and the dinosaur was the prickly cutie. But hey, your theory is just as correct as mine.

A new legend is born! Meet the hero from Cambodia who's got the whole world buzzing -- Magawa! And Magawa just so happens to be a giant African pouched rat. Magawa isn't just any rat, he was trained to sniff out landmines and has now been awarded British charity's top civilian award for animal bravery!

In the past seven years, Magawa has discovered a total of 39 landmines and 28 items of unexploded ordnance. People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) start began as a free vet clinic in 1917 and has been honoring heroic animals 1943. Magawa was awarded the PDSA's gold medal for his "lifesaving bravery and devotion," according to the charity.

Having cleared over 141,000 square meters of land (imagine 20 soccer fields), it is without a doubt that Magawa is worthy of this award! 

APOPO Chief Executive Christophe Cox had this to say about the heroic act, "it is big for the people in Cambodia, and all the people around the world who are suffering from landmines. The PDSA Gold Medal award brings the problem of landmines to global attention."

But why use rats to sniff out landmines? Turns out, rats are perfect for such a task! Their small size (and weight) allows them to walk across minefields without triggering any explosives. Before Magawa, this was a canine job. 

PDSA also happens to have a Dickin Medal for military service and the medal has since been awarded to 34 dogs, 32 pigeons, 4 horses, and one cat. However, Magawa is their rat to ever receive a PDSA award! 

Congratulations Magawa, thank you for your bravery and helping make this world a safer place for us all. 

Story via The Guardian

What does a picture being worth more than 1000 words mean? If you think about it, 1000 words is a lot. It's enough to have a juicy description and a few metaphors and would really get your imagination flowing. Yet, sometimes, images don't need any words at all. It's all about emotion, how you feel when you glance upon them. Most often than not, you'll be creating your own story for the image and that's just as beautiful. 

These images hold a lot of heart, something that's not captured in your everyday photo. 

If you want to be left even more speechless, check out last week's photos. 

A photo that can convey so much emotion, thought, and simplicity. Those photos are worth more than 1000 words. 

All of the following images below capture those elements, some beautifully, and others in a surprising, yet funny way. Even humorous images can say 1000 words without saying anything at all. 

If you want to be left even more speechless, check out last week's photos. 

Believe it or not but it turns out the very first cat memes were created over 100 years ago, thanks to a photographer named Harry Whittier Frees. Harry Whittier Frees dressed up cats and posed them with props, just the way one would photograph a human. He basically did what people do today before it was cool. 

Frees was born in 1879, Reading, Pennsylvania. In an interview with LIFE magazine, it was told he took his first "lolcat" photo completely by accident! The year was 1906 when his family gathered for dinner and brought a paper hat. They passed around the hat from head to head until it was placed on the head of Frees' cat. At that moment he took a photo of a cat with a hat. The source mentions how admired the shot was so he began to take more photos of cats in outfits and props. 

These photographs were taken in the early 1900s with a camera speed of 1/5th a second. As as we all know, cats (especially kittens) move constantly. Especially when you're trying to take a picture of them! So you can imagine how difficult it must have been and reportedly, two-thirds of the negatives had to discarded due to their blurriness. 

Honestly, it just makes the following images that much more impressive! Feast your eyes on the world's earliest cat memes: 

Once a week, we will be featuring an extraordinary animal account on Instagram! Their story, the adorable pictures, and pawesome videos! This week's spotlight goes to the traveling cats; Daikichi and Fuku-Chan! 

Daikichi and Fuku-chan are both rescue cats, rescued by their owner Daisuke Nagasawa, who has been traveling Japan (with Daikichi and Fuku-chan) and documenting their adventures! With over 1000 destinations visited, these cats are definitely living their best lives and seeing the world at the same time! 

When the pandemic struck, it halted their travels but they continued to share some amazing travel photos and videos from their previous adventures! Check them out below. 

Read up on last week's star on Instagram, Sam, The Eyebrow Cat!

Wow! The elephant shrew was considered a lost species up until recently! It hasn't been seen in 50 years, last scientific recording being back in the 1970s.

A country in the Horn of Africa, Djibouti, the creature was found during a scientific expedition. Found alive and well, we should add. 

The elephant shrew is so tiny, it can fit in the palm of your hand.  They are neither elephants nor shrews but do have a distinctive trunk-like nose. The elephant shrew actually is related to aardvarks, elephants, and manatees, believe it or not. 

Steven Heritage, a research scientist at the Duke University Lemur Center in Durham, and a member of the expedition that re-discovered the elephant shrew said he was thrilled to put the once lost species back on the radar! 

Heritage told BBC, "We were really excited and elated when we opened the first trap that had an elephant shrew in it, a Somali sengi. We did not know which species occurred in Djibouti and when we saw the diagnostic feature of a little tufted tail, we looked at each other and we knew that it was something special."

Story via BBC

AnonyMouse is an anonymous group of Swedish artists who are known for their street installations. Their street installations being adorable and really detailed mouse houses/establishments, in unexpected locations. 

They have created some really beautiful and whimsical work. Most recently, a tiny mouse-sized record shop filled with mouse-related vinyl. You can see the creativity that's gone into creating such a piece, like a vinyl titled, "Amy Winemouse / Back to Brie."

Genius. 

You can keep up with their beautiful and exciting work on Instagram! 

When you look at an image and it tells you a story, that image is worth 1000 words. And each week, we search for such images, images that leave us without any words, and share them with you. 

Amazing photographs, and some of which that capture such complex/simple emotion, photos that don't need any words to describe its beauty. 

Enjoy the following gallery of stunning animal images that don't need any caption. 

Each week we bring you such potent images that there aren't enough words to describe them! 

The very meaning behind an image being worth more than 1000 words is that the image conveys such emotion, complexity, simplicity, and we simply do not have the words to fully describe its beauty in its entirety.  And that is actually beautiful in its own way. 

Sometimes, we don't even need words to express ourselves clearly. Enjoy the following gallery of stunning animal images that don't need any caption.