A juvenile leopard cat, seized by authorities during an anti-smuggling operation, is seen past suspected smugglers during a press conference announcing the seizure of trafficked exotic animals in Surabaya on March 27, 2019. Indonesian authorities said March 27 they had seized five komodo dragons and dozens of other animals being sold on Facebook, as the country battles to clamp down on the illegal wildlife trade. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

Jerome Flynn, who played Bronn on “Game of Thrones“, posed in a cage on London's Oxford Street on November 26, 2019 alongside the campaign group Farms Not Factories to raise awareness that most supermarkets and high street food chains are still sourcing their pork almost entirely from factory farms. Says Jerome "Factory Farming is one of the most horrific examples of how far we have strayed from our hearts in the relentless drive for profit and so called progress”. (Photo by Jeff Moore/Splash News and Pictures)

A hungry pelican is shown in a high-speed aerial pursuit of a rival's fish dinner. Having caught the fish, the osprey had to fend off competition from the much bigger bird. These stunning pictures were captured by Hanping Xiao in Sebastian Inlet State Park, Florida, USA in February 2023. (Photo by Hanping Xiao/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Elephants forage for food at a rubbish dump encroaching on their jungle habitat in Oluvil, Sri Lanka in September 2020. Examination of dead elephants has revealed undigested polythene and other plastic waste. (Photo by Tharmaplan Tilaxan/Cover Images)

These heart-warming photograph show an incredible bond between a wild lioness and the men fighting to save her species. The picture show Sirga – a 110lb lioness – and her adopted pride Valentin Gruener (not pictured) and Mikkel Legarth. Incredibly she treats the two men just like she would other lions and with their help she can now hunt for prey on her own. As a cub she was driven out from a pride and rescued by German and Danish duo Valentin and Mikkel who could not stand by and watch her die. She is now a beacon for hoped success of the Modisa Wildlife Project, founded in Botswana, Africa, by Valentin and Mikkel with the hope of saving the lion population. (Photo by Caters News)

A 15-year-old girl denied a horse from her parents has turned to a cow to fulfil her riding dreams. Teenager Regina Mayer, from southern Germany, is able to ride her cow, Luna. She has even trained her bovine pet to soar over a beer-crate hurdle like a regular show jumper. Why, you may well ask, when most cow-owners are surely content to let the creatures chew and lactate and sit down to indicate the imminent arrival of rain? Well, Regina's parents wouldn't let her have a horse.

Kieron Connolly’s new book of photographs of more than 100 once-busy and often elegant buildings gives an idea of how the world might look if humankind disappeared. Here: Bodie, Mono County, California. Gold was discovered at Bodie in 1859 (just after the initial California gold rush) and it went from mining camp to boomtown. Its decline began in 1880, when word spread of new boomtowns elsewhere. The Standard Consolidated Mine closed in 1913, and four years later the Bodie Railway was abandoned. By 1940 the population was down to 40. Today, Bodie is maintained in a state of arrested decay as a visitor attraction. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

In this January 24, 2017 photo, boxer Idamerys Moreno wraps a bandage on her hand before a training session at a sports center in Havana, Cuba. Boxing has long been an athletic engine for Cuba, which has won 72 Olympic medals in that category but women are not allowed to box. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)