An elephant enjoys its back being scrubbed by the keeper on March 1, 1950. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

A vendor arranges dates on his cart at a market in Rawalpindi on June 1, 2023. (Photo by Farooq Naeem/AFP Photo)

“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)

Some people think of trolls as nothing but savage beast, yet others realize that beneath their rock-hard skin hides a gentle kind heart. Ivar Rodningem is one of the people who knows the true nature of trolls. Though these creatures look unruly, it is just the way they were born. Trolls come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small, some are large, and some are simply enormous. They help each other out, though elders tend to be loners, preferring the company of their own thoughts to anybody else. You shouldn’t run for your life if you ever meet a troll, though we wouldn’t recommend pestering them, as they are mighty strong, even the little ones.

Edibles are displayed at Shango Cannabis shop on first day of legal recreational marijuana sales beginning at midnight in Portland, Oregon October 1, 2015. The sale of marijuana for recreational use began in Oregon on October 1, 2015 as it joined Washington state and Colorado in allowing the sale of a drug that remains illegal under U.S. federal law. (Photo by Steve Dipaola/Reuters)

Lukas Podolski of Koeln is challenged by Philipp Wollscheid of Nuernberg during the Bundesliga match between 1. FC Koeln and 1. FC Nuernberg at RheinEnergieStadion on April 3, 2011 in Cologne, Germany.

Competitors release their hens during the World Championship Hen Racing Championships in Bonsall, Britain August 1, 2015. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)

A wild leopard runs on the stairs as it tries to escape from a compound of a house in Kathmandu, Nepal June 1, 2016. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)