amazing

Animals are art. Forever and always. They are endlessly pure, and the things they do sometimes are absolutely amazing. It's hard to fully capture the fully story of what they do sometimes, even in as much as 1000 words, just like with any form of art. Sometimes, it's better to let the pictures and the animals speak for themselves and simply let the inspiration wash over us. 

Every week, we bring you some of those incredible pictures - those that capture the kind of stories that even 1000 words will never do justice. They inspire us, and we hope that they'll inspire you as well. I mean, what can be more inspiring than two gorillas posing for the camera like they're about to drop a diss track?

Starting off the day with a piece of incredibly happy news! A critically endangered black baby rhino was born in Chester Zoo, and we could not be any happier about it. There are only less than 1,000 of them left globally, so any new addition to the black rhino family should be celebrated everywhere. On top of that, the rare birth and the baby's first steps were all caught on camera!

Take a look at the footage below!

There are times when we look at a picture and straight-up have to pause. Our head tilts, eyes squint, and we wonder what in the world happened to lead this cat to get up onto an umbrella. There's no way to know, of course, since sometimes, all that we have is the picture. So, we are left with having to come up with our own story, and stories about these kinds of amazing pictures can never be covered in anything less than 1000 words. 

As animal lovers, these kinds of pictures are our favorites, because there is nothing that we appreciate more than a creativity boost, and these pictures deliver inspiration like nothing else we've seen. And so we made it a mission to find these kinds of pictures every single week and share them with you so that you may enjoy some of that creativity and inspiration as well. 

There are some images out there that we look at that actually make us pause. They're like art. You look at them and can't help but think about what in the world may have led to that moment being captured in the way that it was. Perfect timing, rare friendships, adorable animal family photos, and adorableness that's out of this world. They've got it all, sometimes all at once.

These kind of pictures that are worth more than 1000 world are impossible to capture in quick captions, so we simply let them speak for themselves. And since we love these kinds of photos so much, we bring you a collection of them every single week to get your imagination running and your creativity flowing.

The twitter account @OregonZoo - or as they like to call themselves this Halloween season: "Oregoth Boo" - have decided to share with us some x-rays that showcase the absolute beauty of animals - inside and out. And it's perfect. It hits just the right mood for Halloween - "gothy" and "Halloweenish". 

The thread with the x-ray pictures has gone viral on twitter, with people agreeing with us about how cool these photos are, with some people even adding their own pets' x-ray images, surprising all of us with no one but two x-rays of pregnant pets! A turtle and a cat - tini tiny skeletons inside slightly bigger skeletons. 

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!