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"Now which direction is my nest,” a gannet appears to wonder in this highly commended entry. Photo: Alison Tuck/The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards Every year for over a decade, the Comedy Wildlife Comedy Awards have recognized the best (or at least funniest) images of the natural world. With entries now closed and with finalists to be announced in September, ExplorersWeb reviews the standouts. Warren Price won the Birds category for this zany image of two guillemots.

Mali parachutes down after the jump. Photo: Screenshot This 2025 short documentary film follows professional athlete Alenka Mali who wants to combine snowboarding and BASE jumping. It opens with a brief biography, charting her childhood outdoors in Argentina and Slovenia, her early and enduring passion for snowboarding, and her growing fascination with BASE jumping. As her ambition begins to take shape, the logistical difficulties and physical danger become apparent.

The Karakoram weather is currently unstable, so climbers are either waiting for better conditions or have given up and are heading home. It is not clear if climbing has ended on the Gasherbrums. Gasherbrums After EliteExped and Imagine Nepal’s team fixed the route to the top on July 21, at least two other people summited — Felix Berg of Germany and Abid Baig of Pakistan, both without supplementary oxygen. However, the status of the Seven Summit Treks team is unclear.

The Pakistani team by Karakorum Expeditions, together with Juan Pablo Toro of Argentina, has made the only summits on Broad Peak so far, and they used a variation route that they consider faster and safer. The team leader named the route after himself – Mirza Ali Legacy Route. However, comments among the worldwide mountaineering community suggest that the line looks very similar to the one opened by Mexico’s Carlos Carsolio during his 1994 solo.

Antonio De la Rosa on his prototype stand-up paddle board. Photo: Posovisual Antonio de la Rosa’s attempt to paddle the Northwest Passage began slowly when 40kph winds left him sheltering in place just a short distance from his start point at Cape Liverpool on Bylot Island. The 57-year-old Spaniard’s attempt at a full, solo crossing of that long and difficult Arctic passage uses a unique craft.

Hendrick Hamel's ship foundered off the coast of Korea in 1653. Image: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Until the early 18th century, the Western world had almost no information about Korea; it was practically mythical. Then, in a period of intense isolation, foreigners did not enter Korea. If they did enter, they didn’t leave.

It was either a bizarre form of play or a way to turn a large prey fish into instant chum for convenient nibbling. One orca in the Gulf of California held a dead sharptail sunfish by the tail while another orca wound up and rammed it at high speed. The sunfish exploded into a thousand pieces from the impact. Young orcas then came and grazed on the bits of sunfish floating in the water.

Climbers at the Hillary Step on Everest. Photo: Mountain Professionals Proposed amendments to Nepal’s Tourism Bill will increase revenues from commercial climbing and trekking and give local companies even more of a business advantage at the expense of foreign outfitters. However, making high-altitude climbing safer for both clients and workers is not part of these amendments.

Social media views of fake animal footage are gaining millions of views online and affecting how some of us perceive wildlife, according to a new study. AI can now generate emotion-packed clips of grateful polar bear cubs, sad puppies in animal shelters, and astonishingly colorful tropical birds that, unfortunately, do not exist. These heartwarming fakes take in millions of viewers who love the idea of animals behaving like humans. Sometimes, even those familiar with an animal aren’t sure.

Despite difficult conditions this year, climbing in the Peruvian Andes has yielded some remarkable results for young alpinists looking for new challenges. Despite its relative lack of altitude, the 5,830m Tulliraju is one of the most difficult peaks of Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. Lionel Terray of France, who did the first ascent in 1956, said the climb could be one of the most arduous in the history of mountaineering.