Photo of the Day: Guardian of Karnak Temple

Photo by: Jarrod Castaing (Sydney, Australia); Luxor, Egypt

Photo of the Day: Lone Acacia, Sossusvlei Sand Dunes

Photo by Bob Bush (Altadena, California); Nambia

Sir David Attenborough Comforts a Blind Rhino

The British broadcaster concludes his BBC One series about the wildlife of Africa with an extraordinary close up meeting with a young rhinoceros

Ed note: As the demand for rhino horn soars, police and conservationists in South Africa pit technology against increasingly sophisticated poachers.

Photo of the Day: Marabou storks in a tree in Serengeti National Park

Photo by: Kelly Schneider (Accokeek, Maryland); Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Photo of the Day: Cheetah Juba relaxes in the grass and enjoys the attention. His leg is broken due to an unknown event

Photo by: Frank Trimbos (Waalijk, Netherlands); Kruger National Park, South Africa

The Pink Lake of Senegal

Lake Retba lies just north of the Cap Vert peninsula in Senegal. The coloring, which can change to purple depending on the time of day, is caused by bacteria that thrives in the high-salinity environment. - From Amusing Planet.

Photo by: SPL / Barcroft Media

Ed note: Lake Baikal and more of the weirdest lakes in the world.

Rare and Intimate Photos of a Gorilla Family in the Wild

Butterfly season came suddenly to the Dzanga-Sangha reserve, a dense rainforest in the Central African Republic. Furious storms of butterflies filled the air, and their frail brown forms carpeted the earth. They swarmed over Fiona Rogers and Anup Shah and also seemed to pester the gorilla family that the photographers were following. The harassed apes bashed away at the insects and clamped their mouths shut so none would fly in.

Except, that is, for the family’s dominant female, Malui. She plowed straight through one drove of butterflies resting in the bais, as the swampy meadows in the forest are known. Seeming to relish the rush of wings, she paused to let the butterflies envelop her. Then she did it again. - Continue reading at Smithsonian.com.

Photo by Anup Shah and Fiona Rogers

Ed note: Click through for many more incredible photographs of the gorilla family.

Zebras resting on a hot day

Photograph by Marc Tkach (Alexandria, Virginia), August 2009, Etosha National Park, Namibia