In one of the best collaborations this blog has seen in ages, professional illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks has been collaborating with her 4-year-old daughter on a series of wonderful drawings that pass back and forther between mother and daugher until reaching an always unexpected final form. Each drawing begins with Hendricks drawing a detailed retro-ish head, after which her daughter snatches away the sketchbook to create rudimentary body (or animal!) parts as well as other random details. Afterward Hendricks goes back in to polish things up a bit and behold: dinosaur women, slug ladies, and beaver astronauts are born.

A baby Jack Russell and Chihuahua mix has defied the odds by surviving despite its tiny size and being abandoned by its mother. The owners of named the puppy “Miracle” and have taken over the feeding and care of the baby after its four siblings passed away shortly after being born. Owner Kayley-May Coles, age 10, said, “Everyone thinks she is absolutely beautiful. My friends absolutely love her. My teacher thought she might be the smallest dog ever to be born. She is just perfect”.

There is nothing more endearing than seeing true friendship and love. Especially, if it as improbable as that of a big dog and a tiny kitten. Somehow, animals feel when they are dealing with a baby. For example, no matter how much a toddler will tug on the tail of a cat and play roughly with it, it will never or very rarely fight back. This set of pictures taken by Jessie Pon shows a tiny kitten mistaking an adult golden retriever for his mother. Though it may hurt the dog’s nose with its sharp claws, the dog does nothing to harm the kitty. On the contrary, it’s watching over the kitty-cat as if it were her own puppy. (Photo by Jessie Pon)

“After taking LSD. I lighting up a candle in the middle of the wood and during the 30 secondes of exposure, i make a meditation about the holism of nature surrounding me. Feeling the crystal vibration irradiating from the center of the Gaia mother earth. So in this picture i try to show you the magic, sacred metaphysical quality of the nature and new age bullshiting you”. – Benoit Paillé. (Photo by Benoit Paillé)

Bristol Zoo's baby gorilla Kukena holds onto his mother's arm as he ventures out of his enclosure at Bristol Zoo's Gorilla Island on May 4, 2012 in Bristol, England. The seven-month-old western lowland gorilla is starting to find his feet as he learns to walk having been born at the zoo in September. Kukena joins a family of gorillas at the zoo that are part of an international conservation breeding programme for the western lowland gorilla, which is a critically endangered species. (Photo by Matt Cardy)

Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

Goat herder Dana McGregor's goats Pismo, left, and Goatee surf at San Onofre State Beach, Calif, on July 11, 2012. McGregor started taking Pismo's mother Goatee to the beach, and it wasn't long before she was on a surfboard. When Pismo was born, McGregor put her on a board too, and she was a natural, he says. (Photo by Rod Veal/The Orange County Register via AP)