A yellow-spotted river turtle in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador
© Pete Oxford/Minden Pictures
A yellow-spotted river turtle in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador
Our be-shelled buddy lives in Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The park is considered one of Earth’s most diverse ecosystems—and a great place to celebrate World Turtle Day. The observance focuses on protecting turtles and tortoises, and the habitats they call home. About those butterflies: They’re licking salt and other minerals off the yellow-spotted river turtle’s face. And now you know that’s a thing that some butterfly species do.
Brown bear mother and cub in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Old World swallowtail butterflies on a flower
Southern cassowary father with chicks, Kuranda, Queensland, Australia
Elephant walking in the Okavango River, Botswana
Long-beaked common dolphin pod and diving Cape gannets hunting sardines off the Eastern Cape, South Africa
An indigo bunting at the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove in Audubon, Pennsylvania
Scarlet macaw in Costa Rica
Hyalite Creek in the Custer Gallatin National Forest, Montana
