The World's Worst Parents

There's no definitive guide book to parenthood. Working out the best ways to love and educate your children is part of the joy and challenge of raising the next generation.

But there can be few better examples of how not to raise children than these.

From the parents who have stuck their child to the wall with duct tape, to the man who allowed his young daughter to dress as a topless mermaid - and even helped her carry the costume - these parents are far from setting a good example.


This is where babies come from... This shocked infant looks horrified to learn the truth about the stork and the cabbage patch


Horror: A teething baby takes a bite into a giant snake - not realising it is putting its new teeth into a potential predator


Don't go! A woman crosses a level crossing with a pram as the light is on red. In the background a train can be seen leaving the station


Get 'em started young: This little girl is having her first taste of alcohol about 17-and-a-half years too early


Shock: A huge snake sits on top of a tiny baby as it lies on a bed in this sickening image


Into the raccoon's pen: This child is danged headfirst into a pen to feed a raccoon


Once this one turns 18, she won't be sticking around for long... Exasperated parents have found a novel way to stop this toddler getting into trouble

Other gaffes are downright dangerous. Someone please tell the mother who's allowed her little ones to stray beneath the woman twirling upside-down around a pole that these positions are hard to hold.

And the man teaching his daughter to shoot a pistol... Well, he perhaps ought not to be allowed near either a handgun or a youngster.

Many do not bode well for the future, like the father at a music festival who, while carrying his daughter on his shoulders, is taking a puff of a Looney Tunes-sized joint.

And the father who is giving his infant daughter her first taste of beer, when it looks like she'd prefer breast milk, ought really to go on a course.


Hitting the bottle: This youngster is given an early taste of manhood as he appears to knock back a can of beer


One of the family album: The chances are low of this child treasuring this picture of him with his scantily-clad parents on their wedding day


Hanging out: This poor little one looks bewildered as he is left dangling precariously from a tree branch by his clothing


One for you, one for mummy: She might think she can multi-task, but someone needs to tell this woman pushing a stroller while riding a segway across a road is a recipe for disaster


Mummy, where are your clothes? Motherhood obviously hasn't taken its toll on this woman's body, and she wants the world to know


Lick it clean: A child eats cake mix off a whisk - while it still appears to be plugged in


Open wide: A man fooling around pretends to bite into a sandwich with a sleeping baby inside


Don't fall! These toddlers have strayed dangerous close to the pole just as the woman riding it moves into a position that looks devilishly hard to hold


Lesson she won't forget... But shouldn't this dad be teaching his child not to touch electric fences?


Babe in arms: But we're pretty sure the second amendment doesn't extend to pre-schoolers


Very safe: From Social Services, at least, as this woman has taken the precaution of covering her face before this snap was taken


He's not a briefcase: But this man's novel method of carrying his son is just as convenient


Breast enlargement: A child with something stuffed inside her top in this photo which will infuriate campaigners


My first porn video: A child clutches a copy of an adult film as she is held by a grinning adult


Martial arts: This toddler is dangled upside down - but remarkably still appears to be smiling


Into the lion's den: A child who looks terrified poses for a picture next to a lion


Age appropriate: This father seems to see nothing wrong with helping his daughter to show off the assets of her risque mermaid's outfit


Baby see, baby do: This youngster already has the pose of a seasoned smoker


Good times at the festival: Depending on which way the wind is blowing, we might soon have a very sleepy toddler on our hands


This is just frightening: And this poor little one doesn't look too pleased to be jammed in the microwave either


BBQ baby: Please get him off there! This child is left on a barbecue - although it is switched off


I'm outta here: Perhaps terrified of what might be coming next, this little trike rider from somewhere in the Far-East is striking out on his own 





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Nepenthes spathulata

It’s like the Little Shop of Horrors has come true. There’s a carnivorous plant so large that it gobbles up mice and rats - and it even digests the teeth and bones. Footage of a hapless mouse falling into one has been uploaded to YouTube, with over one and a half million users watching the unfortunate creature become lunch.


Danger: The mouse doesn't realise that it's standing on a flesh-eating plant...


... until it's too late
Called Nepenthes spathulata - and part of the pitcher plant family – the deadly piece of vegetation is found on the islands of Java and Sumatra. Nepenthes spathulata isn't quite as terrifying as the vicious human-eating plant called Audrey II from the 1986 movie Little Shop of Horrors - but is still fairly formidable. Its stem can grow to five metres in length, with the ‘upper pitcher’ that captures animals reaching about a foot in length. Animals are lured into its slipper-like mouth to drown or die of exhaustion before being slowly dissolved by digestive enzymes.

Recently natural history explorer Stewart McPherson, who runs Redfern Natural History Productions, discovered a new species of pitcher plant during an expedition to Mount Victoria in the Philippines, with fellow botanists Alastair Robinson and Volker Heinrich. The team said in a statement: 'That one of the largest carnivorous plants has remained undiscovered until the 21st century is remarkable.

'Many pitcher plants trap not only insects, but also rodents including mice and rats, and the new species - Nepenthes attenboroughii - is certainly large enough to catch such big prey!'

Details of the discovery, named Nepenthes attenboroughii in honour of naturalist Sir David Attenborough, were published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

Mr McPherson, from Poole, told MailOnline: 'The victim drowns in the pitcher and acids and enzymes in the fluid within the trap break down the remains of the prey.

Hungry: The newly-discovered Nepenthes attenboroughii (left), which is named after British nature expert Sir David Attenborugh, can swallow mice like its cousin the Nepenthes northiana (right)

'The fluid breaks down the soft parts of the prey, and generally, only the bones of the prey remain.' Mr McPherson said pitchers were usually colourful to attract prey, especially insects, which they needed to survive. 'All pitcher plants are carnivorous plants. They need to acquire nutrients by trapping and digesting animals (mainly insects) because they grow in really hostile areas where nutrients are scarce in the soil,' he said. 'This new species which was discovered in the Philippines produces pitcher traps that are green with purple blotches, and they stand out clearly from surrounding vegetation.'

The team said the structure of its leaves, pitchers and flowers suggests strongly that the new species is a close relative of the great Nepenthes rajah from Borneo and may be related to the Nepenthes flora of Palawan and Borneo. Sir David was thrilled to have the exotic plant named after him.

He said: 'I was contacted by the team shortly after the discovery and they asked if they could name it after me. I was delighted and told them, "Thank you very much. I'm absolutely flattered. This is a remarkable species and the largest of its kind.'








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Caldera of Uzon Volcano

The Kamchatka peninsula bristles with places of dizzying beauty, but unfortunately there is just one place – and it is the Valley of Geysers – known for those people who haven’t been to the peninsula that can be considered as one of the most beautiful lands in the whole Russia. There is one unique place that is being as good as the other nature sights of Kamchatka region and located not far from the before-mentioned Valley of Geysers, and this place is caldera of Uzon volcano. Today we will tell you about it.



Uzon caldera is the thing that was left from a huge volcano destroyed by the series of volcanic explosions that took place approximately 40,000 years ago. The height of the former volcano was about 3000 meters (10,000 feet), that’s what volcanologists say. At present, the caldera looks like a flat-bottomed punchbowl, 10 kilometers (6,5 miles) in diameter. These steep edges 200-900 meters high (650-3000 feet) are half-destroyed walls of the ancient volcano.





But what’s really tempts tourists from all over the world to come there are hydrothermal activity developments: hot pools, boiling mud pools, hot wells and mud volcanoes. Moreover, all these things are found side by side with opulent vegetation and seaweeds of extraordinary colors.







This lake has a weird name – Chloride lake. It is forbidden to swim in there.



Hot wells have such a remarkable coloring because of bacteria colonies and peculiar seaweeds that are able to live in hot water.





This is a pulsating hot spring. And again it has such a coloring because of mineral deposits and different bacteria.




These are so-called mud pools. Mud boils in there and sometimes bubbles crop up there because of gas contained.










One of the thermal fields with steam outlets. By the way, soil at the thermal fields is always snowless and well-heated so that it is covered with a thick layer of greenery year-round.


Water in some lakes is harmless for man so you can swim in there and enjoy hot water with plenty of minerals.




Due to its shape such a discharge of hot water is often called as kettle.














All the routes at the caldera are fitted out with timber flooring. One wrong step – and you are already burnt out.









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