Earth Day, credited with launching modern environmental movement in US, appears as Google doodle again
If you open Google's homepage you will be greeted by an Eden-like scene of diverse wild animals in their natural habitats.
This Google doodle, built around the search giant's logo, is its latest celebration of Earth Day, started 41 years ago to raise awareness of and appreciation for the natural world.
The interactive scene features two pandas, one of which shocks the other with a sneeze when you place your mouse on it, a nod to this YouTube video. Other animated features include a fish swimming up a waterfall, only to be snatched up in the jaws of a bear, a koala climbing up and down a eucalyptus tree and a penguin leaping off an iceberg (you can read here how islanders in the South Atlantic rescued thousands of endangered northern rockhopper penguins, which were caught in thick oil slicks).
Last year Google celebrated Earth Day with a lush tropical rain forest, featuring six parrots, while the year before its logo featured an illustration of a waterfall and a rainbow of marine life.
Although some commentators have questioned the effectiveness of the awareness day, the first Earth Day in the US in on 22 April 1970 was credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passing of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act followed in its wake. In the words of its organisers, it is designed to "[activate] individuals and organisations to strengthen the collective fight against man's exploitive relationship with the planet."