On August 31, 2011, a puppy was rescued from a garbage bag in Central Florida. She was afflicted by a condition dubbed “swimmer puppy syndrome”, formally, pectus excavatum. It's rare in puppies, but when it happens it causes them to lie flat on their chests with their legs perpetually splayed out. It's usually a symptom of serious neurological problems that most puppies cannot survive. Veterinarians recommended putting her to sleep... (Photo by Flyin Fur Pet Photography)

This photo series shows curvy canines and flexible felines participating in a spot of yoga. The shots feature the animals in the likes of the lotus position, balancing on two legs, and stretching in ways that would make the greatest of yoga masters proud. Photographer Dan Borris came up with the idea for the series in 2000, when he was asked by a friend to photograph her in a yoga pose while her dog bothered her. Pictured: Wally. (Photo by Dan Borris/Caters News)

A Russian daredevil has captured a vertigo-inducing selfie – while standing on top of a Dubai skyscraper. Nineteen-year-old Alexander Remnev scaled the Princess Tower – the worlds tallest residential building at 1,350ft – before getting his camera out to take these stomach-churning pictures. Photo: He leans on the very top of the tower as he takes this vertigo-inducing picture. (Photo by Alexander Remnev/Caters News)

For some reason, everything that comes from Australia is either very cute or very poisonous; sometimes cute and poisonous at the same time. For example, Slow Loris, which you probably have seen eating a ball of rice on YouTube, is actually a very poisonous creature, despite its extreme cuteness. Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroos, on the other hand, are all cuteness and no poison. Just look at its cute little snout and furry paws, as it gingerly scratches its stomach, while sitting on its hind legs! If you don’t find this creature adorable, nothing will be able to thaw your stone-cold heart.

More great and peculiar work from Chicago based sculptor Jessica Joslin. Joslin assembles her hybrid creatures from objects found in obscure junk shops, flea markets, attics, taxidermy supply houses, specialty hardware distributors…or even just walking through the woods. “Miniature machine bolts, springs and couplings comprise anatomical structures. Many of the beasts have hidden movements: a spring loaded beak, snapping jaws, jointed legs and adjustable tails. Some creatures are free-standing but have mechanisms to allow for movement or multiple positions.”

For more than 2,000 years, women from the Baiga tribe in the highland district of Dindori, in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state, have been tattooed. Sumintra, 25, from Bona village, has the markings across her forehead, legs and arms. The women who work as tattoo artists are knowledgable about the different types of designs and pigments preferred by various tribes, and their meanings are passed to them by their mothers. The tattooing ‘season’ begins with the approach of winter. (Photo by Ronny Sen/WaterAid/The Guardian)

Eight-year-old handicapped Chinese girl Qian Hongyan crawls with two home-made props and part of a basketball at Zhuangxia Village on January 5, 2005 in Luliang County of Qujing City, Yunnan Province, China. The girl who lost both of her legs in a traffic accident in 2000 at the age of three, struggles to live her life with a basketball as an underprop, “walking” between school and home by herself. The girl's story is widely reported in the country, and experts from China Rehabilitation Research Center has come to Qian's home to help her for rehabilitative treatment early 2005. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)