A baby Black-crowned Night Heron squawks in its incubator while being cared for at City Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in Washington, DC on May 31, 2017. The heron is one of several that have been brought to CW by the staff at The National Zoo over the past few years. (Photo Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

A pregnant woman poses on June 19, 2018 in Vertou, western France. France had an estimated population of 68.4 million by January 1, 2024, representing a further year-on-year increase of 0.3 percent, limited by a marked drop in the birth rate, the INSEE national statistics bureau of France reported on January 16, 2024. In 2023, 678,000 babies were born in France, 6.6 percent fewer than the previous year, the lowest number of births in any year since 1946. Over the same period, there were 631,000 deaths, down 6.5 percent on 2022, a year marked by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and episodes of extreme heat. (Photo by Loic Venance/AFP Photo)

Members of Japan's idol group “Virtual Currency Girls” wearing cryptocurrency-themed masks perform in their debut stage in Tokyo, Japan, January 12, 2018. Japanese female idols have teamed up to form the ‘Virtual Currency Girls’ group to promote the knowledge of cryptocurrencies through entertainment. Each of its 8 members represents a cryptocurrency: bitcoin cash, bitcoin, ether, neo, nem, ripple, mona, and cardano. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Reuters Photographer Carlos Barria photographed a person born in each year China's one child policy has been in existence; from a man born in 1979, to a baby born in 2014, and asked them if they would have like to have siblings. Here: Lv Mengmeng, who was born in 1995, poses for a photograph in Shanghai August 22, 2014. When asked if she would like siblings, Mengmeng said: “Maybe brothers, because I think they could protect me”. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

An actor dressed as a zombie performs during a drive-in haunted house show by Kowagarasetai (Scare Squad), for people inside a car in order to maintain social distancing amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a garage in Tokyo, Japan on July 3, 2020. A Japanese performance group is starting a run of drive-in horror shows for people who are scared of catching the coronavirus but still want to get close-up frights from ghouls and zombies. Audience members will drive into a garage in Tokyo, one car at a time, and listen to a murder story and sound effects blared out of speakers, as actors dressed as monsters bang on the side of the vehicle and spray fake blood over the windows. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

Japan's On-Art Corp's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot “TRX03” performs during its unveiling in Tokyo, Japan November 10, 2016. Stomping and roaring dinosaurs took to the stage in Tokyo on Thursday as part of a presentation for a proposed entertainment park where visitors will be able to see the realistic replicas first-hand. Japanese firm ON-ART Corp. unveiled man-operated robotic models of raptors, an allosaurus and a tyrannosaurus rex, in a performance at a hotel hall. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

As pancake day has creped up on us once again, a Japanese chef has combined our favourite things; cute animals and sugar. Keisuke Inagaki has been a chef at his restaurant La Ricetta in Zama City, Japan, for the last 18 years. He rose to Instagram fame from his Pokemon and anime pancake art, and the time around heis created a lifelike animal series. The 46-year-old chef began making pancakes in 2011 to raise spirits after the devastating nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. Here: A pancake that looks like a cat, in Zama City, Japan. (Photo by Keisuke Inagaki/Barcroft Images)

“The Ainu (アイヌ?), also called Aynu, Aino (アイノ), and in historical texts Ezo (蝦夷), are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin. Most of those who identify themselves as Ainu still live in this same region, though the exact number of living Ainu is unknown. This is due to ethnic issues in Japan resulting in those with Ainu backgrounds hiding their identities and confusion over mixed heritages. In Japan, because of intermarriage over many years with Japanese, the concept of a 'pure Ainu' ethnic group is no longer feasible. Official estimates of the population are of around 25,000, while the unofficial number is upwards of 200,000 people”. – Wkipedia

Photo: A captive bear drinking from a large bottle held by an Ainu tribeswoman. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955