Images Dated 12th June 2006

Sea holly (Eryngium sp.)

Sea holly (Eryngium sp.) flower heads. Each blue blob is an individual flower. This perennial herb belongs to the family Umbelliferae, which includes 200 species. It is indigenous to southern Europe. Sea holly is usually grown ornamentally for its metallic, spiny foliage and blue thistle-like flowers

© LAWRENCE LAWRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Sikh performs traditional martial art during religious procession in Chandigarh

A Sikh (C) walks on a bamboo stick as he performs the Gatakha, a traditional martial art, during a religious procession to mark the 400th martyrdom day of their fifth Guru, Guru Arjun Dev in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh June 12, 2006. BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE REUTERS/Ajay Verma (INDIA) - GM1DSUUUYAAA

Giant panda babies

Giant panda babies (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) Family: Ailuropodidae.
Wolong China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda within Wolong Reserve. Sichuan Province.
CHINA
RANGE: Temperate bamboo forests of altitudes between 6, 500 and 10, 000 feet. Central Sichuan, South Gansu, East Qinling and in Shaanxi Provinces of China.
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Less than 1000 animals remain in the wild. Even the death penalty does not deter people from hunting these animals, but they are mostly endangered due to habitat loss.
They consume about 45 pounds of a specific type of bamboo per day as well as some mosses, fungi and even small rodents. Males weigh: 85-125kg's and females weigh: 70-100 kg's. They live 10-15 years in the wild and up to 30 in captivity. Their natural predators are leopards

© Pete Oxford / DanitaDelimont.com