At first, it just looks like a worm. But when you peek closer, it slithers like a snake. It sticks its tongue out like a snake. It creeps you out like a snake.

Discovered under a rock in 2006 in Barbados, this thread snake is as thin as spaghetti and smaller than any of the 3,100 other known snake species. Researchers believe it is the smallest a snake can evolve to be.

This is a Palm Cockatoo, also know as the Goliath Cockatoo.

Palms are distinguished by their size, huge beak (second only to the Hyacinth Macaw among psittacines and largest proportionate to size), solid black feather coloration, large open crest, bare red cheeks, and red and black tongue. You have to see their tongues to believe the coloration. It's amazing.

Palm Cockatoos are severely threatened. They are CITES Appendix I birds and are protected in Australia.

As a testament to their rarity, typical prices in the U.S. for Aterrimus Palms are around $8000 and Goliaths around $14,000. Perhaps contributing to their rarity is the fact that, according to both Low and Forshaw, they lay only one egg per clutch.

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This is Migaloo, the albino white humpback whale. His name is derived from an Aboriginal word that means “white fella.” Migaloo is a favorite for whale watching enthusiasts. He is believed to be the only documented white humpback whale in the world.

He was discovered in 1991 and quickly became popular with tourists and locals alike. Since then, sightings have been rare. He migrates from Antarctica to Australia on a yearly basis, and some years he slips by undetected. Most of these photos were taken in 2012 on Migaloo’s return to Antarctica. ...