Rainbow trees, living rocks, corpse flowers and red bananas

Nature is endowed with such a natural and rare beauty, yet

Among its many splendors, are sprinkles of the uncommon

Like the lovely white feathered peacock

These majestically beautiful creatures are a rare species

White peacocks are not albinos; they possess

A genetic mutation known as Leucism

Which causes the lack of pigments in the plumage.

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Red bananas, also known as Red Dacca bananas in Australia,

Are a variety of banana with reddish-purple skin

They are smaller and plumper than the common Cavendish banana

When ripe, raw red bananas are cream to light pink in color

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Sometimes referred to as a ‘living rock’, Pyura chilensis

Is a tunicate (marine invertebrate animal)that resembles

A mass of organs packed inside a rock

It is often found in dense aggregations in the intertidal and

Subtidal coast of Chile and Peru. It is the closest anyone can get

To finding blood in a stone!

Also served as a local delicacy in the cities surrounding the coasts

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On the outside meteorites look like volcanic rocks

Astronomy photographer Jeff Barton cracked them open to reveal

The wonderfully beautiful glittering geodes inside

To capture the stunning shots of meteorite guts,

Barton cut the rocks open with a rock saw, employing the help

Of a diamond-coated blade. Then ground down a stamp-sized piece

So thin, light can pass through it, like the sun

Shining through the windows of a cathedral

Photos are subsequently taken with polarizing filters

And a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera)

Attached to a petrographic (composition and properties of rock)

Microscope

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Lighting up the night sky in lovely hues

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky

Particularly in the high latitude regions,

Auroras are caused by the collision of energetic charged

Particles, with atoms, in the high altitude atmosphere.

The result is a stream of beautiful green displays

That run across the sky in a dazzling display

Creating a luminescent prismatic rainbow effect

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Shikoku, Japan

This forest glows in the dark thanks to a bunch of Luminescent Mushrooms.

Mushrooms and fallen leaves emit a magical light

For just a short period of time each year

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Yes its true…there is a kind of fish that can fly!

Flying fish can make powerful, self-propelled leaps out of water into air

Where their long, wing-like fins enable gliding flight

For considerable distances above the water’s surface

This uncommon ability is a natural defense mechanism to evade predators

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The Corpse Flower, Amorphophallus Titanum (Indonesia)

At 2.27 metres (7ft 5in) high, the Amorphophallus titanum

Is considered the longest flower in the world.

And, Oh yes! It smells terrible!

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Some information and images courtesy Emlii, ( zoyamccoy [at] demotix.com)