Bodybuilder Romario Dos Santos Alves modeled himself on the Incredible Hulk and risked his life injecting oil into his arms. The 25-year-old turned to a cocktail of oil, painkillers and alcohol to pump up his biceps. Now the former bodyguard terrifies children with his super-sized muscles and faces serious health issues.
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Battle of the beasts: A crocodile chomps down on a bull elephant’s trunk at the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in Africa.
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Jonathan Pitre, 14, has blisters covering his body because of epidermolysis bullosa, on April 10.
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A lazy frog hitches a ride on a snail in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Feb. 15.
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Talk about bending over backwards: Shemika Charles limbos under her car at Niagara Falls State Park in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 28.
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Mt. Etna erupts under lightning in Sicily, Italy, on Dec. 3.
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The 6’4″ model Lauren Williams, believed to have the longest legs in America, gets her gams measured in Houston, Texas.
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Lightning illuminates the sky above Johannesburg, South Africa, on Feb. 10.
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Zuly Sanguino, born with no legs and extremely shortened arms, applies blush in her Bogota, Colombia, home on April 9.
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A supercell mushrooms against a blood orange sunset on May 30 over Bledsoe, Texas.
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Jaspreet Singh Kalra demonstrates his flexibility by winding his arms around his back and wrapping them around his waist on Feb. 28 in Ludhiana, India.
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A cowardly lion clings to a tree to avoid a herd of angry buffalo on March 4 in Maasai Mara, Kenya.
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Kaya Sesser, born without legs, still skates in Los Angeles on Aug. 5.
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This diving dog scores a perfect “10” as she launches herself off a clifftop into the clear blue waters of St Peter’s Pool in Malta. The Jack Russell terrier, named Titti, even performs synchronized dives with her loving owner, Carmelo Abela.
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RJ Anderson pushes a utility vehicle to the limit in Youngstown, Ohio, in October.
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Adrianne Lewis shows off her 4-inch tongue on April 4 in Twin Lake, Mich.
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Fighting stance: A lion rears up on its back legs to make the kill on July, 10 in Kruger National Park, South Africa., in full view of stunned motorists.
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Armed guards John Mugo and Daniel Meina protect Sudan, a northern white rhinoceros, at Ol Pejeta Conservancy on June 25 in Laikipia County, Kenya.
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Valery Bystritskii, 10, gets a fellow student into a lock at Bunny’s Gym in July 2015 in Winchester, Tenn. Bunny’s Gym teaches children as young as four are taught mixed martial arts.
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Adventurer Sam Cossman approaches a huge lava lake wearing a custom built industrial proximity heat suit on December 20, 2014 in Ambrym, Vanuatu.
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Eda Maybury, 25, shows pole-dancing skills at home, on Sept. 20, in O’Fallon, Missouri. She weighs in at 260 pounds.
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“Human statue” Ashley Kurpiel poses outside her home on September 24 in Peachtree City, Georgia. Kurpiel suffers from a rare condition called fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, which turns muscles in to solid bone — and already cost Kurpiel her right arm. The incurable illness affects about 800 people worldwide.
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A pitbull named Hulk hangs with his family, including their toddler son, in the U.K.
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Melanie Gaydos, 26, models despite being born with ectodermal dysplasia, an illness leaving her hair, skin and teeth undeveloped.
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A sperm whale shadows a diver in January in Dominica, Caribbean.
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Pixee Fox, 25, poses after rib removal surgery — one of her many surgical efforts (she’s spent about $100,000 on procedures) to become a living cartoon character.
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Gentle giant Joelison Fernandes da Silva, 29, at 7’8″, poses with girlfriend Evem Medeiros, 21 and 4’8″, in Assuncao, Brazil, in March 2015.
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Maybe he had a resolution to get fit: A green tree frog attempts a pull-up, on Jan. 1 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
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Chewed up and spat out: This helpless surfer didn’t stand a chance against the infamous surfing break nicknamed Jaws on Jan. 21 in Peahi, Maui, Hawaii.
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Kim Kardashian look-alike Thalia Almodovar poses at her home in Queens on April 17. She’s spent over $100,000 on surgeries to emulate the reality starlet.
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Miraj, 11, works at a tannery without any safety equipment on Aug. 18, 2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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Bhupen Chandra Das, 38, of Assam, India, poses on March 18 after inserting needles into his face and tongue in an effort break a world record.
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The upstream inflow entrance of Tham Khoun Xe in Laos, seen here in March, has a forest inside a huge collapsed doline.
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