Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, Philippines: The iconic Philippine eagle and the striking white-and-red Philippine cockatoo make their homes in this species-rich sanctuary, which runs north-south along the Pujada Peninsula of the Philippines. created a series of five earthen mounds and six concentric, semi-elliptical ridges known as the Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point, named for a nearby 19th century plantation. Image 9 of 29 - New, expanded World Heritage sites for 2014 Wadden Sea, Northern Europe: The existing World Heritage Site of the Wadden Sea in the Netherlands and Germany has been expanded in those countries and now also includes most of Denmark's maritime conservation area. Photograph: Inocybe/Wikimedia Commons 
 
 The Grotte Chauvet in the Ardeche, France – home to the earliest known and best preserved figurative drawings in the world and described as an "exceptional testimony of prehistoric art" – was also added to the list. Other sites awarded Unesco world heritage status this year include Qhapaq Nan, a vast Inca road system in Peru, and the fossil rich coastal cliff site of Stevns Kilt in Denmark, which offers "exceptional evidence of the impact of the Chicxulub meteorite that crashed into the planet about 65 millions years ago." Image 18 of 29 - New, expanded World Heritage sites for 2014 India: The Great Himalayan National Park in the western part of the mountains in the northern province of Himachal Pradesh is a biodiversity "hot spot," home to rivers, meadows and 25 kinds of forest. Image 22 of 29 - New, expanded World Heritage sites for 2014 Costa Rica: Found in the Diquis delta in the southern part of the country, the pre-Columbian chiefdom settlements with stone spheres are "unique examples of the complex social, economic and political systems of the period between 500-1500 A.D.," according to UNESCO.
– The planet now has more than 1,000 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: places "of outstanding value to humanity" that UNESCO helps to safeguard and preserve. The World Heritage Committee wrapped up its 38th session on Wednesday by adding 26 sites to its list and expanding four more; that list now clocks in at 1,007 sites, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Number 1,000, the Guardian reports, is Botswana's Okavango Delta, a wetland that's home to elephants and white and black rhinoceroses. Other highlights among the new selections: Four archaeological sites that date to between 500 AD and 1500 AD in the Diquis Delta, Costa Rica, and feature stone spheres whose origins are a mystery, LiveScience reports. France's Grotte Chauvet, site of the world's oldest figurative drawings. The pictures, found in 1994, date back some 30,000 to 32,000 years. The vineyards of Piedmont, Italy, where wine has been made since the fifth century BC. The white cliffs known as Stevns Klint, Denmark. A layer of ash in the cliffs is believed to be tied to a meteorite that made impact off the coast of Mexico and is thought to have killed the dinosaurs. Louisiana's monumental earthworks of Poverty Point, which include five mounds made of earth between 3700 and 3100 BC and mark the 22nd US World Heritage site; their "earthen construction … was not surpassed for at least 2,000 years" in North America, UNESCO said. See the full list here, which also now includes a remarkable road.