Top 5 lists: Nature

7 lists

Top 5 Animals That Look Like They Were Designed by a Committee

Creatures where every department got its feature approved and nobody checked how it all fit together.

1–3: Platypus · Star-Nosed Mole · Shoebill

Nature by Top5Top Editors 1 5

Top 5 Things in the Night Sky Worth Driving Away From the City For

Light pollution steals the best show on Earth, and these are worth a tank of gas, a folding chair, and a thermos.

1–3: The Milky Way Core in Summer · The Perseid Meteor Shower · The Aurora Borealis

Nature by Top5Top Editors 0 8

Top 5 Animal Migrations Worth Planning an Entire Trip Around

Nature's biggest commutes, ranked by how hard they make you rethink your own complaints about traffic.

1–3: Great Wildebeest Migration — Serengeti and Maasai Mara · Monarch Butterflies — Michoacán, Mexico · Sandhill Cranes — Platte River, Nebraska

Nature by Top5Top Editors 0 7

Top 5 Trees Worth a Detour Just to Stand Underneath

Trees so old, huge or strange that standing under one makes your problems feel like a rounding error.

1–3: General Sherman — Sequoia National Park, California · Árbol del Tule — Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca · Angel Oak — Johns Island, South Carolina

Nature by Top5Top Editors 0 13

Top 5 Weather Phenomena Worth Pulling the Car Over For

Sky events that justify hazard lights, a gravel shoulder, and a passenger asking what on earth you're doing.

1–3: Aurora Borealis · Mammatus Clouds · Sun Dogs

Nature by Top5Top Editors 0 9

Top 5 Backyard Birds That Make You Put Your Coffee Down

Common North American birds that make an ordinary morning at the window feel like a nature documentary.

1–3: Northern Cardinal · Black-capped Chickadee · Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Nature by Top5Top Editors 0 13

Top 5 National Parks Worth Setting a 4 a.m. Alarm For

Sunrise spots where the cold, the dark and the terrible gas station coffee all turn out to be worth it.

1–3: Haleakalā National Park — Maui, Hawaii · Arches National Park — Utah · Acadia National Park — Maine

Nature by Top5Top Editors 0 18