As a nature photographer, I have to face the wind and the rain, but I still enjoy working outside in the wild.One of the best things about this job is that you can observe animals in their natural environment.My favorite place to take photos is Yellowstone National Park.Yellowstone is famous for the variety of its wildlife, but it is probably best known for its bears.These huge, strong animals can live for 30 years.Despite(尽管)a weight of up to 300 kilograms, they can nun at a speed of around 64 kilometers per hour and are also excellent swimmers.

Last spring in Yellowstone, I followed a path that took me through a dark forest. When I finally stepped out of the trees, the view was breathtaking. An eagle flew over the snow-capped mountains, which were reflected(反映)in the sill lake below. While I was concentrating on photographing this amazing scene, I suddenly had a feeling that I was being watched. Slowly, and with the camera still held to my eye, I turned...and froze. Only meters away from me was a bear. With water falling off its thick, brown hair, the bear stared back at me. Time stood still as the bear and I both’ waited to see who would move first.My legs started shaking.Somehow, I forced my finger to press the button. A second later, the bear turned and ran back into the forest. When I recovered from the shock, I looked at my camera. My most frightening but magical experience was now captured(捕捉)forever in a single image.

From time to time I look at the photo as a reminder to show respect to all animals. It is after all we who are the visitors to their world.

Recently, a homeowner in Illinois came face to face with five furry chipmunk (花栗鼠) babies that crowded together in a window well. Shocked and concerned, the homeowner contacted Wildlife Allies (WA), a team committed to the caring removal and rescue of sick and injured wildlife.

Wildlife technician Cat Downs soon arrived at the scene along with an assistant. Together, Downs and the assistant netted the chipmunks, removing them from the window well, and placed them inside a new plastic carrier. The rescuers then moved the five chipmunk babies to a grassy area nearby and put them under a wooden basket where the mother could see them. To make sure the reunion was a success, the rescuers set up cameras and hoped the chipmunk mom would soon return.

“The chipmunk babies were enveloped in fear and tiredness,” a representative from Wildlife Allies recalled. Rescuers didn’t wait long and soon found an empty wooden basket. Then, checking the camera recording, they joyfully realized that the whole family had been reunited. “When we loaded the photos on to our computer and saw the mom, a burden was lifted from our hearts and pure joy came over us,” one Wildlife Allies representative said.

The Wildlife Allies team watched in satisfaction as the chipmunk mom tended to each of her babies. “The chipmunk mom emerged and heroically freed her precious babies from the wooden basket,” Anderson Humane wrote in a post about the rescue. “With determination, she made multiple trips, releasing all five babies and carrying the last one away to safety!”

According to Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control, chipmunk babies rely heavily on their mother throughout the first few months of their lives, as she teaches them what to eat and how to survive. Usually, families like these stick together until the fall, when the babies are old enough to stand on their own feet.

Together at last, this little family is filled with happiness, thanks to those rescuers.

On March 18, 34-year-old Lance Karlson was walking on the beach and looking for somewhere to swim in Geographe Bay when he saw what he thought was a stingray (黄貂鱼) leap from the water.

Realizing the creature was, in fact, an octopus (章鱼), he started filming it — just in time for the angry octopus to launch itself at him. He immediately felt a sharp pain across his left arm, followed by a second strike across his neck and upper back. His goggles (护目镜) fogged and the water around him turned dark with what he thought might have been octopus ink as he struggled back toward the shore.       

"I was confused — it was more of a shock than a fright," said Karlson, "I might have hit on its home." Within a minute, a perfect imprint of an octopus tentacle (触手) appeared on Karlson's neck and back.       

A former volunteer lifeguard, Karlson rushed back to his hotel room to find something acidic to put on the wound. All his family could grab was Coca-Cola, which his wife poured over his back and the pain disappeared.

"The pain went away and more than anything since then, it's been more the physical hit that was painful.... The imprint on my neck is more from the physical hit, and I guess it makes complete sense when you look at the video I took," he said.

Karlson said he'd never seen an octopus that close before and watched Netflix documentary "My Octopus Teacher" after the incident to learn more about the species.

"They are beautiful creatures and I really hope this promotes more interest in octopuses as opposed to fear of them. I think this is a fascinating creature with clearly some very strong emotions just like we do as humans," he added.