Ten wonders of nature


"How far the unknown transcends the what we know."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"It wouldn't be half so interesting if we knew all about everything would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then."
~Lucy Maude Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

"Wisdom and deep intelligence require an honest appreciation of mystery."
~Thomas Moore, The Re-enchantment of everyday life

"The sense of wonder is the mark of the philosopher."
~Socrates

Today is Imbolc, which celebrates oncoming spring. A time for wonder. But on February 2, I rarely feel anything like awe. It's as if I were the legendary groundhog, rolling over in my burrow and casting a cynical eye at the gloomy skies of Ontario's midwinter.

So, like Lucy Maude Montgomery's elfish heroine, Anne Shirley, I must strive to see the marvellous in the mundane, to reawaken my sense of majesty in the world around me.

Here are 10 marvels of nature, from the bizarre to the sublime. There are multitudes of other places and creatures in the world as fantastic. These are just a whimsical sample; things to make us say, "Wow, what an incredible world we live in!"

  1. iceworms
    In 1997 a team of scientists using a mini research submarine discovered a new species of centipede-like worms living on methane ice 560 m (1,800 ft) deep in the Gulf of Mexico. These creatures are thought to graze on or live symbiotically with bacteria that metabolize the methane. It's a reminder that the diversity and complexity of ecosystems on earth is greater than we can imagine.

  2. Amazon Basin
    The largest and richest tropical rain forest in the world surrounds the second longest river. The Amazon discharges 28 billion gallons of water per minute into the Atlantic Ocean, diluting its salinity for 160 km (100 miles) offshore. Only a tiny percentage of the region's plant and animal species are known to science.

  3. tuataras
    This rare New Zealand reptile looks something like a lizard, but it is the last survivor of a different family and has changed little in 200 million years since the first dinosaurs walked the Earth. It has a third eye, or parietal eye, with a rudimentary lens and retina, on the top of its head, covered with scales. It could not form an image, and scientists think it may affect the amount of time the creature spends basking, or serve as a solar compass to help the tuatara find the way back to its burrow.
    The copyright of the article Ten wonders of nature in Living With Nature is owned by Van Waffle. Permission to republish Ten wonders of nature in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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