Todd Bretl specializes in underwater photography, and is able to capture striking photos of aquatic life big and small. His photos of sharks are particularly striking; though he rarely faces hostility from the animals, he tries not to spend too much time looking through his viewfinder and many shots are framed by educated guesses and impeccable timing. What follows are photographs taken over the past several years on trips to the Bahamas and Isla Guadalupe, an island off the coast of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. (Photo by Todd Bretl)

A man dressed as a “Trapajon”, representing entities of nature, poses for a picture after taking part in the Vijanera Festival in Silio, northern Spain, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. The Vijanera masquerade, of pre-Roman origin, is the first carnival of the year in Europe symbolizing the triumph of good over evil and involving the participation of crowds of residents wearing different masks, animal skins and brightly colored clothing with its own complex function and symbolism and becoming the living example of the survival of archaic cults to nature. (Photo by Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP Photo)

In this Tuesday, February 11, 2014, photo, a trained monkey, that makes a living for her Pakistani owner by performing to a crowd in public and private places, sits held by a leash, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. For Pakistanis who raise and train the monkeys they are an important source of income in an impoverished country, and they form a strong bond with the animals. The monkeys are usually captured in the wild when they are babies and then trained. A trained monkey can fetch 20,000 to 30,000 rupees ($190 to $285). (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)

Activists from the animal rights group PETA wearing bikinis and crocodile masks assist each other outside a store of the French fashion label Hermes in Sydney on March 4, 2021, as they protest against their use of crocodile skins and the recent purchases by Hermes and LVMH of crocodile farms in Australia's Northern Territory. (Photo by David Gray/AFP Photo)

Moto Stunts International put on a display showing a motorcycle riding through fire, on August 24, 2023 in West Bay, Dorset. The Melplash Agricultural Society Show, held in West Dorset, is a prominent agricultural exhibition in the South West region. Besides providing a platform for trade, visitors can also witness animal judging and gain valuable insights into food production and farming practices. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

Nihon University professor and head of Nihon University Animal Medical Center Kazuya Edamura, 49, points to cat photos on a computer screen, which are used to train the AI of “CatsMe!”, an AI-driven smartphone application jointly developed by tech startup Carelogy and researchers at Nihon University that purports to tell when a cat is feeling pain, as he gives a lecture to students on diagnosing pain in cats, at the medical center in Fujisawa, south of Tokyo, Japan on June 11, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

Edinburgh-based physicist-turned-web-designer Tom Beddard was inspired by geometry to create these virtual Fabergé fractals – made up of self-repeating patterns, so that structures within the object resemble the whole. “Within a 3D fractal, there is infinite detail”, says Beddard, 37. “The closer you zoom in, the more structure is revealed”. Beddard rendered the fractals using WebGL, a technology used to animate 3D scenes in a browser.

A 500-pound lion and an 11-pound dog have formed an unlikely friendship, proving that cats and dogs really can get along. Bonedigger the lion and Milo the dachshund live together at Garold Wayne Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Okla., along with three other dogs. The puppies were introduced to Bonedigger in 2008 when he was just a 4-week-old cub.