what have you
what have we done
i'll show you welcome to watch mojo and
today we're counting down our picks for
the top 20 natural wonders ruined by
morons for this list we'll be looking at
beautiful parts of nature that were
harmed or destroyed by direct action
from people it's so heartbreaking you
just pray something like this doesn't
happen which of these dismays you the
most tell us in the comments
number 20 gwyra falls paraguay and
brazil
it's kind of strange to see a deceased
symbol next to a massive waterfall's
entry on wikipedia but here we are these
stunning falls on the parana river
roared so loudly that they could be
heard from 20 miles away their size and
deafening sound drew in tourists from
around the world and the falls were
deeply loved by the local people in 1973
the taipo dam was announced and the
falls days were numbered over the next
nine years crowds visited the area for a
chance to see the falls one last time
tragedy struck when a bridge collapsed
and killed several tourists
[Applause]
the falls completely disappeared in 1982
much to the sadness of those who enjoyed
their beauty number 19 rlc kazakhstan
and uzbekistan you might be wondering
how an entire sea can disappear but
never underestimate the power of poorly
planned farming practices in order to
grow large amounts of cotton the soviet
government diverted the waters of the
amudaria and their serdaria rivers from
the rlc to the desert the sea shrank
from 26
300 square miles in 1960 to four small
lakes totaling 6 626
square miles in 2004. since the 1960s
over 90
of the sea has disappeared the remnants
of the rlc are highly toxic and too
salty to support many forms of life
which has partially led to the probable
extinction of the aral trout and sir
daria sturgeon this once prosperous
village was abandoned by its residents
when there was no more fish
additionally the toxins have led to a
tragic increase in cancer in the people
who live in the region
[Music]
of
canada this beautiful unique tree met
its unfortunate demise at the hands of
one man the kid kaya's was a sitka
spruce that had a rare genetic mutation
the spruce's unusual golden colour made
it stand out among the other trees and
it was sacred to the indigenous hider
people the golden spruce even featured
in hyder mythology in january 1997
however forrester engineer grant hadwin
made cuts in the iconic tree as an act
of protest causing it to fall two days
later hadwin faxed in his confession to
both the media and the hider nation he
disappeared on his way to his trial and
has not been seen since
number 17 prometheus tree united states
yes this is yet another north american
tree that was cut down but at least it
was apparently an accident this time
prometheus was a great basin bristlecone
pine and it was believed to be more than
4800 years old making it the oldest
non-clonal organism known to man in 1964
graduate student donald r curry was
studying ancient trees accounts vary as
to why curry cut and sectioned
prometheus instead of simply collecting
a core sample however curry claimed that
he and the united states forest service
personnel who helped him did not know
about the tree's significance sadly no
matter the circumstances all that
remains of prometheus is a very large
stump
number 16 el dorado ranch park united
states once upon a time the only risk
associated with baby showers was
encountering some bad punch but nowadays
they can cause massive wildfires that
destroy thousands of acres of parklands
in september 2020 refugio manuel jimenez
jr and angela renee jimenez decided to
reveal their baby's gender with a
smoking pyrotechnical device the device
smoked a little too much and started a
fire the blaze spread over more than 22
000 acres and resulted in the death of
firefighter charlie morton people were
really concerned about the impact that
something that started off that seemed
so innocent ended up having such a
amazing impact
on people in the community their homes
in in this case a life was lost if you
want to have a gender reveal party maybe
stick with pink or blue cupcakes instead
of involuntary manslaughter and massive
destruction he's fighting a fire that
was started because of a smoke bomb
that's the only reason he's there number
15 the nazca lines peru from here it
might not look like much
because to really see the nazca lines
you need a completely different
perspective
the beautiful and culturally significant
nazca lines survived two millennia of
weather but even they could not escape
the stupidity of people the unesco world
heritage site covers a large area so it
is in theory pretty difficult to miss
unfortunately in 2018 a truck driver
still managed to ruin part of the
important site heiner jesus flores vigo
drove over a portion of the lines
destroying some of the images along with
a much smaller but still significant act
of vandalism by activists this
encouraged more stringent security
around the area number 14 big major k
pigs the bahamas what's better than
serene beautiful beach time serene
beautiful beach time with sweet adorable
pigs of course the famous big major k
pigs are so friendly and trusting that
they'll even swim with tourists making
for wonderful memories and gorgeous
pictures and it's turned the swimming
pigs of the bahamas into international
superstars unfortunately the flood of
visitors has also resulted in pollution
and overly crowded sands in 2017 over
half a dozen pigs were found dead
tourists were blamed for feeding the
pigs inappropriate food including rum
and throwing food into the sand which
the pigs ingested along with the tasty
morsels thankfully the remaining pigs
seem to be doing well but make sure you
always refrain from feeding wildlife no
matter how cute it is they've become the
biggest single attraction in the exuma
keys
number 13 galapagos islands ecosystem
ecuador
ever since humans first started visiting
these breathtakingly beautiful islands
they've been causing problems the flora
and fauna of the galapagos have
developed in unique ways but this sadly
makes them vulnerable when it comes to
competition humans have been
intentionally and unintentionally
introducing invasive species of plants
and animals to this beautiful
archipelago for centuries probably
somewhere between 65 to 75 percent of
all the extinctions have occurred on
islands
and of that
somewhere between 80 and 90 or even more
is because of invasive species some of
these invasive species have caused quite
a few problems for the native ones
including habitat loss and food
competition thankfully efforts have been
introduced in an attempt to reduce and
reverse the negative impacts tudosum is
a double-edged
sword
it can be
good and it can be bad so let's make
sure that we manage tourism the best
possible way and we use tourism as a
conservation tool number 12 torres del
pini forests chile
nicknamed the crown jewel of patagonia
this unesco biosphere reserve is a
gorgeous and unique area home to
endangered species and stunning views
torres del paine national park draws in
hundreds of thousands of visitors a year
unfortunately not every visitor is as
responsible as they should be this
national park suffered from two large
fires six years apart the first in 2005
was caused by a tourist's overturned gas
stove and it burned about 15 000
hectares the second larger fire burned
17 000 hectares and was caused by a
tourist lighting toilet paper on fire
both fires killed thousands of animals
and caused massive damage the next time
you go camping make sure you heed smokey
bear's advice come on man if it's too
hard to touch it's too hard to leave
number 11. wong kok lake cambodia the
destruction of any natural wonder is
tragic but it's even worse when it has
an enormous human cost as well this
lake's shores in phnom penh were home to
thousands of peoples who depended on its
waters for food and money from tourism
in 2007 the city's government announced
the sale of the lake and its surrounding
area to a property development firm the
developers pumped mud and sand into the
lake transforming it from a sprawling
body of water to a puddle thousands of
families were displaced or evicted from
their homes due to this horrific
undertaking number 10 devil's whole
pupfish united states a critically
endangered species of pupfish only lives
in devil's hole in nevada they're so
valued as unique that they spawned save
the pupfish bumper stickers in the 1960s
and 70s this led to the u.s government
to spend millions of dollars to preserve
them in april 2016 three men broke into
the secured area around devil's hole
they destroyed surveillance cameras and
one man even jumped into the hole
smashing pupfish eggs during their peak
spawning season the vandalism led to the
death of one of the valued pop fish
lowering that spring's population from
115 to 114
ultimately the vandals were charged with
violating the endangered species act and
security around the pupfish habitat was
further heightened
number nine uluru and its rare shrimp
australia uluru is an iconic monolith
that stands as one of the most
recognizable aspects of australian
geography and as a sacred landmark to
the aboriginal people of the area when
tourists began flocking to the area in
the 1930s some of them made a huge
negative environmental impact visitors
climbed the sacred sandstone rock
against the wishes of the local anangu
and even relieved themselves on the site
you unzip take it out fire away
remember to aim
it's very important by the 1970s human
waste was blamed for eliminating a rare
species of shrimp that lived exclusively
on what's also known as air's rock over
the years there were even more incidents
of tourist indecency including a woman
removing much of her clothing upon
reaching the top of uluru in 2019 a ban
on climbing uluru finally went into
effect to help preserve the site
number eight paracel archipelago south
china sea also known as the shisha
islands the paracel archipelago are in a
disputed area in the south china sea
their stunningly clear waters are home
to many rare sea creatures and colorful
coral reefs when the islands were opened
up to tourism and cruises in 2013 the
wildlife immediately suffered tourists
plucked ocean animals from their homes
including lobsters and rare endangered
giant clams and ate them they even broke
off pieces of coral to take home a
souvenirs while many of these actions
are illegal that didn't prevent ignorant
tourists from posting about their crimes
on social media
number seven race track player united
states despite its name this gorgeous
dry lake in death valley is not designed
for high-speed vehicles its name comes
from the mysterious sailing stones that
leave behind noticeable trails across
the level pristine surface racetrack
players a beautiful and unusual
landscape was vandalized in 2016 when a
driver tore through the fragile area and
left behind 10 miles of ruts behold the
upward spiraling pigtail the driver spun
all over the dry lake cutting swerves
and donuts all over the ground this
blatant act of vandalism caused
significant noticeable and long-lasting
damage to the picturesque surface crust
of racetrack player
number six isla desaporasa spain while
the beautiful isla desapoirasa is
uninhabited tourists still frequent it
while vacationing in the area in fact
some holidaymakers have made it a rite
of passage to try to make it to the
island while under the influence despite
police warnings in 2015 two teenagers
were exploring the island in a grand and
stupid move they dropped a lit cigarette
it caused an enormous blaze across the
island the fire tore through several
acres and required two helicopters
carrying water to douse the flames
although the incident was treated as an
accident it does serve as a testament to
the foolishness of some tourists
number five cliffs of moher ireland the
world famous cliffs of moher are among
europe's most stunning natural wonders
and are gorgeous on their own however in
2013 a group of artists apparently
thought they could one-up one of mother
nature's most beautiful pieces of art by
adding to it much to the dismay of
geologists they graffitied the highest
point of the cliffs as if it were not
obvious enough that these vandals were
not the brightest stars in the sky they
recorded themselves in the act they also
graffitied several other sites and
posted every act of vandalism on their
social media before deactivating their
accounts the rock's 300 million years
old it's got its own natural beauty it's
weathered by the waves the wind over
vast periods of time that's what people
come to see they don't come to see
somebody spray painting a bit of it
number four duck bill united states
oregon's duck bill was a unique
sandstone hoodoo that was iconic on the
titular states coast and attracted many
tourists every single year the duck bill
survived decades of winds and tides from
the pacific to serve as a scenic spot
for visitors it could not however
survive a group of teenage vandals they
toppled the one-of-a-kind hoodoo after
their friend allegedly broke a leg on
the rock formation we looked over
and there was probably eight guys
pushing over the big rock the group
claimed they were performing a service
to the public despite several warning
signs and the area around the duck bill
being surrounded by a fence although the
vandals were filmed in the act they were
never caught it kind of just like
laughed it off took it with pride that
they destroyed something magnificent and
then just kind of
disappeared right after number three the
tree of tenere niger once deemed the
globe's most isolated tree this acacia
was thought to be the only tree for more
than 250 miles it was considered an
iconic part of niger's landscape
especially recognized as a landmark on
caravan routes through that area of the
sahara desert and it was even included
on maps despite being the only obstacle
for literally miles even this isolated
tree could not escape unscathed from
ridiculous human behavior in 1973
the tree was inexplicably hit by a truck
driver their actions removed an
important feature from niger's landscape
while a memorial sculpture now stands in
its place the tree can never truly be
replaced
number two utah's goblin hoodoos united
states camping among centuries of
geological history seems like a dream
come true but that dream can come
crashing down
literally when morons get involved one
of utah's most memorable geographic
features are its ancient and giant
mushroom-like hoodoos in 2013 a boy
scout troop was visiting the magical and
hoodoo filled goblin valley state park
wiggle it
just a little bit according to the troop
leaders however there were goblin
hoodoos that seemed too dangerous
fearing that one of them could crush
someone the troop leaders toppled the
supposedly threatening ancient formation
people will say you guys are boy scout
leaders you should know better they
could have easily just reported the
potential danger and stayed away from it
instead they filmed and posted their
destructive behavior and then were
subsequently removed from their
leadership roles it's all about saving
lives they posted their clip on youtube
too bad restoring the goblin hoodoos
isn't that easy before we continue be
sure to subscribe to our channel and
ring the bell to get notified about our
latest videos you have the option to be
notified for occasional videos or all of
them if you're on your phone make sure
you go into your settings and switch on
notifications
number one raja ampat reefs new guinea
indonesia there's not much time left the
incredible raja ampat reefs sometimes
called the underwater amazon are among
the most important ecosystems in the
world because they contain the most
marine life diversity on earth because
of their beauty and amazing coral reef
biodiversity they attracted quite a few
visitors that unfortunately included one
particularly destructive cruise ship
the ship ran aground at low tide and
caused irreversible damage to the
important ecosystem over 17 thousand
square feet of the reef were damaged the
damage was determined to be worth nearly
19 million dollars and recovery will
take decades
with the worldwide decline of coral
reefs this was considered a huge global
blow to marine wildlife do you agree
with our picks check out this other
recent clip from watchmojo and be sure
to subscribe and ring the bell to be
notified about our latest videos
you