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Summer is nigh and everyone else is out romping with their puppies, swimming with the dolphins or traveling to places where they’ve got the best chances of seeing one of nature’s most spectacular shows, the northern lights. You’re stuck in the office. But here’s some good news: You can have your pooches, your fishies, the aurora borealis and your paycheck, too.
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Just don’t let your boss catch you losing time at explore.com, which operates the largest live nature camera network on the planet. What you’ll see is raw, unscripted and unedited, and you’ll be transported from your cubicle or phone bank to “Kenya, Africa, to the riverbanks of Katmai, Alaska, and everywhere in between,” the site promises. And it delivers.
Did we mention you’ll lose time? It’s all so wonderful and inspiring and in some cases, surprising. You might even catch a live birth. You just never know.
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Let’s take a virtual trip, shall we? (Get Across America Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts. Or, find your local Patch here and subscribe. Like us on Facebook. Also, download the free Patch iPhone app or free Patch Android app.)
Here at home, explore.com offers video after video after video of puppies — old dogs, young dogs, big dogs, small dogs, dogs for warriors and other therapy dogs. If puppies aren’t your thing — and if they’re not, what is wrong with you? — how about some kittens that need homes, but are having quite a lot of fun in the one they’re in?
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What’s that? You’re more interested in big cats? No worries. They’re everywhere, even here in America, where sanctuaries rehabilitate bobcats and prepare them for release back to the wild. They’re cute little dickens. You can also watch the lioness Nakita — seized in a drug raid, of all things — and tigers.
Perhaps you’ve read about the three Decorah, Iowa, eaglets, whose dad disappeared earlier this spring, not long after they hatched. Many people worried about them, but they made it and could fledge any minute. There are several other eagle cams where you can watch the national bird, too.
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If you would rather be lolling on the beach, check out this huddle of walrus on Main Beach extending from Alaska’s Round Island. It’s home to the greatest number of Pacific walruses you’ll find anywhere, and while you’re checking that out, a look up at the cliffs will reveal nesting seabirds. Out at sea, you’ll see whales, sea lions and seals.
Let’s get across the pond.
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Bears of all kinds star on the site, and some of them are pandas. If you’re not instantly in love with pandas, we’re immediately worried about you. Here, you’ll be able to see panda bears in their natural element as they explore a lush bamboo oasis in China’s Wolong Valley Nature Reserve.
Next stop: Africa.
You never know what you’ll see on the African River Wildlife Camera. When we snuck away, we saw baby monkeys crawling down adults’ tails and then pulling on them while the older monkeys foraged for food — seriously cute.
At another site in Kenya, we saw zebras having a snack; a leopard and a lion, separately, on the prowl; a huge fowl dwarfed by the hippopotamuses it scared away; majestic elephants running, trumpeting and capturing our heart; and some species we can’t identify, but now must look up. And this giraffe is seriously funny. Be sure to turn your sound up and watch until the end.
Whew. It’s time to cool off in the ocean. Don’t you love the song of the whales? You can explore the kelp forest without having to put on diving gear. And there’s not a chance in the world these sharks will bite you.
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There’s so much to see, but the boss is coming. Quick, bring that spreadsheet up on your computer.
Photo: Sipa Asia/REX/Shutterstock
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