Love is all around us, just ask the natural world
Ahead of Valentine's Day, the World Wildlife Fund wants us to celebrate the wild hearts that surround us.
If only you'd put your phone down for a minute, just one minute, and gaze into the side of this jaguar, or the beating wings of this hummingbird, or some loved-up swans, you'd realise that there are hearts everywhere for those with eyes to see.
Coral reefs, tide marshes, large cats, butterflies, flowers and lakes. All throughout nature, the hearts and 'sort-of-heart-shaped-if-you-squint-your-eyes-a-bit' things exist and enthrall.
Our friends at the WWF have shared some fabulous examples with us, which we will now share with you. Next time you are out in the park, or flying over the Great Barrier Reef, a reminder to take a good look around you. You can fall in love with nature quite easily, as it turns out...
A purple-throated mountain gem hummingbird investigates a flower in Costa Rica. Hummingbirds can flap their wings up to 80 times per second, and do so in a heart shape. Naturally quite tricky to capture that on camera, so you'll have to trust us (and the WWF, who would know).
Now you might think: 'This is just a jaguar, with some spots, where is the heart', but you would be wrong. Look closely, do you see the heart? Hint: it is not the right way up. The image comes from a camera trap in Bolivia.
A Peleides blue morpho butterfly rests on a leaf in Costa Rica. Quite an obvious heart shape this one, but still very pretty.
The Heart Reef in the Great Barrier Reef. Who knows what inspired these corals to form a heart shape, but we are glad that they did.
The Stiffkey Marshes in Norfolk are home to many hearts, if viewed from above. Some are quite good and heart shaped, others leave a little bit to be desired, but we love them anyway.
The Asian bleeding-heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis). Heart by name, heart by nature.
A lake in Rio Negro, Brazil. Not the finest example of a heart you'll ever see, but nature is an imperfect beast. A+ for effort.
