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A bizarre , parasitic plant that looks like a scowl hooter has won a global picture taking competition for the best snapshot of a plant or fungus . Nestled in drear soil , the " owl " glow an eerie emerald , according to theWorld Nature Photography Awards .
PhotographerChatree Lertsintanakornsnapped the mesmerizing image in a secret wildlife sanctuary in Thailand , where the miniscule plants ' blossom bodies pop out of the ground at the groundwork of trees .
Photographer Chatree Lertsintanakorn snapped the mesmerizing image in a secluded wildlife sanctuary in Thailand.
The plant , Thismia thaithongiana , is a myco - heterotrophic metal money , mean it doesn’tphotosynthesizebutobtains its energy and nutrients from fungi — more specifically the fungus associated with the roots of trees . In 2018 , scientists discovered it in theDoi Hua Mot Mountains in Thailand .
trivial is have it away about this plant , but its funny shaped body has precede to its name,“Phisawong Ta Nok Hook , " which interpret to " mysterious owl ’s eye,“according to Nation Thailand .
T. thaithongianaspends most of its liveliness underground until it bursts up , revealing its peculiar fruiting consistence .
Enrique Lopez Tapia: “Olive baboon (Papio anubis) and hornbill heads at the Abomey voodoo market. Any wild animal that runs, flies, jumps or crawls is hunted to supply these markets for voodoo ceremonies. Travelling the roads and fields of Benin, and seeing the markets, one realises why there is an absence of wild animals - it is very difficult to see or hear any wild birds, and almost impossible to spot a monkey or any other mammal."(Image credit: Enrique Lopez Tapia/World Nature Photography Awards)
Lertsintanakorn learned about the rare species while receive with lensman Suchat Chanhomhuan , one of its artificer .
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With the help of Chanhomhuan , Lertsintanakorn located the industrial plant in the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand ’s Tak Province . " I notice it grew principally near the substructure of trees , make it easy to look across , " Lertsintanakorn told Live Science in an e-mail .
Andy Schmidt, Switzerland: “A female orca splitting a herring bait ball while diving through it to get one, shot from underneath while freediving. Every winter, enormous schools of herring migrate from the open ocean into the fjords of Northern Norway and attract large numbers of big predators such as orcas and humpback whales. Witnessing orcas feeding on herring using the so-called carousel feeding technique is very exciting but not easy to capture due to various factors: limited light and visibility, fast-paced action plus cold surface and water temperature. Being able to freedive and capture the action on an ongoing feeding frenzy in these conditions is difficult but I managed to create a series of photos I had never dreamt of capturing."(Image credit: Andy Schmid /World Nature Photography Awards)
Its location is choice literal landed estate for the bantam sponger . In ecumenical , some species of fungus live on around and inside the roots of enormous Tree . They acquire an underground electronic connection in search of mineral that they choke on to the trees . In paying back , trees give them nutritious loot — in an alliance know as a symbiotic kinship .
T. thaithongianainterrupts this relationship bystealing the nutrient acquire by the fungi .
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Bill Klipp USA : “It was late afternoon in Puerto Egas, Santiago Island, Galapagos and the colorful Sally Light Foot Crabs were returning to the lava-rock-encrusted shoreline. I knew that when a wave came in, the crabs would lock down, holding on tight so they did not get washed away, so I set up my tripod and pre-focused on the rocks setting a very slow shutter speed to blur the moving water while keeping the stationary crab sharp."(Image credit: Bill Klipp /World Nature Photography Awards)
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T. thaithongianais only visible when its fruiting consistence grows out of the ground , and even then , it is implausibly lilliputian . " I was surprised by its diminutive size , measuring a simple 2 to 8 millimetre [ 0.08 to 0.3 column inch ] in length , " he enounce . Lertsintanakorn ’s image was grant Gold in the Plants and Fungi class in the World Nature Photography Awards . Founded in 2020 , the challenger is now in its 5th yr with over 3,000 image accounting entry this year .
" Our winner never bomb to take our breath away with their arresting images . As always , it ’s such a joy to see the awful caliber of entries into the awards , " said Adrian Dinsdale , cofounder of the World Nature Photography Awards in astatement .
Other far-famed images from the competition let in a haunting collection of olive baboon ( Papio anubis ) straits and skull at the Abomey voodoo securities industry in Benin , an orca ( Orcinus orca ) splitting a herring ball underwater , and a group of Crab snaffle onto the lava stone - encrust shoreline under a moving ridge of urine .
