Before the earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province, 38-year-old Sarah Bexell was working to develop a new environmental consciousness(意识) among Chinese people and to encourage them to protect wildlife and habitat-in particular, that of the giant panda.

Bexell, an American who is the director of conservation education at the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding. Bexell has spent a lot of time teaching young people the value of protecting the environment.

“The younger generation in China can afford to care,” Bexell said before the earthquake. “They’re not starving. They have food, good jobs, and access to education.”

Now, Bexell worries about the people she has been working with and who are up in the mountains. She doesn’t know whether they and their families are safe. And she knows the work to which she is devoted has become more urgent during the immediate crisis.

Bexell and her Chinese colleagues have been trying to spread the message that the tourist boom, population growth, and pillaging (掠夺) of resources form terrible threats to the environment.

There are stories of pandas wandering out of the forest and into villages. This is a troubling sign for what should be a rare species.

To make matters worse, there are fears that with the earthquake and landslides, bamboo could massively die off. That’s the main food source for the giant pandas, whose habitat was already damaged.

In April, Bexell took Block way up a twisting mountain road into the Longxi-Hongkou National Nature Reserve. The reserve was set up in 1997 to protect the giant panda and its habitat. It was very near the epicenter(震中) of the earthquake, so this area suffered severe damage.

Birds don’t need lessons in building nests. Fish don’t need coaching to learn how to swim. All animals have instincts . They’re born with natural abilities to do certain things. Wild animals also learn by copying their parents and practicing. And pets learn through training.

But instincts and training aren’t the only keys to animals’ behavior. Scientists say animals’ thoughts and feelings also influence their actions. Animals often make choices, plans, and sensible changes. They can help others and solve problems. Some even make and use tools!

If animals could talk, what would they say about their thoughts and feelings? A gorilla (大猩猩) born in captivity (关在笼子里) has helped answer that question. Koko, a gorilla, was taught to use sign language. She has learned hundreds of words!

Koko once had a pet cat she named All Ball. “Koko love Ball,” she signed. “Soft good cat.” One time, she blamed the cat for biting her by signing “You bad dirty toilet!” When her pet died, Koko cried. “Sad for sleeping cat,” she signed.

Koko calls herself “fine animal gorilla”. She uses sign language to argue, joke, and ask and answer questions.

“Most animals can’t use words to tell us their thoughts,” says Dr. Jonathan Balcombe. “But Koko shows us that animals have their own ideas and feelings.” Dr. Balcombe is a scientist at the Humane Society of the United States. He says there’s even more to discover about animals through field studies. In field studies, people watch animals in their natural environment.

“Scientists who study animals’ natural behaviors learn how animals live and think,” Balcombe says. “That knowledge can help others respect every animal who shares the planet with us.”

Moscow-based photographer Anastasiya Dobrovolskaya is not a typical “pet photographer.” Her trademark photos look like something out of a fairy tale, but everything is real-from beautiful and unique people to breathtaking landscapes, and various animals you wouldn’t expect to pose alongside people. Tigers, owls, horses anything you can think of is featured in Dobrovolskaya’s incredible portfolio, including the most-wanted bear model, Stepan, who was rescued as a cub and raised by loving humans.

In July of 2018, Anastasiya started taking photos by accident. After three failed attempts at photography, giving up trying, and finding her way to photography again, she received a message from a woman who wanted a photo shoot with a rooster Although she had never photographed people with animals and didn’t have much experience altogether, she took on a challenge and fell in love. In a week, she photographed an owl , then a horse, and it kicked off from there with some of her photos going viral online. It was enough to quit her job and pursue a career in commercial photography.

The 30-year-old photographer takes dreamlike photos that capture the magical bond between animals and humans and show how beautifully diverse, yet similar they are. “In my work, I want to show common features between people and animals so that animals become more respected by people and people will do their best to minimize the harm they do to nature.” She says.

However, some people accuse her of using animals, that animals suffer during photoshoots, and so on. But they don’t even know how far they are from the truth. In most cases, the animals were rescued from poor conditions, from fur factories, or were abandoned by the owners. Almost all large animals live in the countryside, in spacious areas, in specially equipped enclosures with regular walking. Each animal feeds on the basis of its species.” Only those animals with a certain character are selected for the photoshoots, and the process is almost always very comfortable,” explained the photographer.

The photographer now has an astonishing 179k followers on Instagram-an audience that has become a source of endless support, energy, and inspiration.