Spencer Slate, costumed as a scuba-diving Easter bunny, is shown in this handout photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau as he hides eggs amid eel grass, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo, Florida March 31, 2013. About 80 adults and children participated in an Underwater Easter Egg Hunt, seeking real hard-boiled eggs painted with non-toxic food coloring to avoid adverse effects on the marine ecosystem. (Photo by Bob Care/Reuters/Florida Keys News Bureau)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and these striking images of 2017 are no exception. The photo highlights include incredible snapshots of the natural world as well as some awesome animal and human encounters. The vibrant gallery also shows thrill-seekers pushing themselves to the limit with breathtaking stunts captured in perfect clarity. The pictures have been taken by a host of photographers from around the world. Here: The two lion cubs singing their hearts out at Antelope park in Zimbabwe. (Photo by David Jenkins/Caters News Agency)

Some of these cat paintings have cost $15,000 and had to be renewed every 3 months! Some cat owners are really crazy about their cats! I’m not sure these poor cats really enjoyed the long hours of painting on their fur. The results are pretty amazing! Some cat painting are very simple with a unique color, others are very complex and required a true artist, like painting on a canvas. These cats are ready for Halloween!

These cat hand bags are painstakingly crafted by Pico, a Japanese housewife who loves cats. The difficulty in making these bags means that they often aren’t available, and when they are, they’re only sold on Yahoo! Auction Japan. How much do bags like these go for? The three-color cat below ended up selling for about 700 USD!

A demonstrator jumps from a vehicle of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) during a protest to demand what protesters say is true information from the OSCE about the shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine (since April 2014, the city is the administrative centre of the Donetsk People's Republic), July 23, 2015. The graffiti reads, “Stop moronic war!”. (Photo by Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

A mahout walks with an elephant after bathing him in a river, before taking part in an elephant festival, which organisers say aims to raise awareness about elephants, in Sayaboury province, Laos February 17, 2017. (Photo by Phoonsab Thevongsa/Reuters)

Some people joke about having clowns at their funeral, but how about having a coffin that looks like a gigantic cellphone? It is impossible to tell at the first glance that these colorful sculptures are actually coffins. The coffins were made by Kane Kwei and his assistant Paa Joe more than twenty years ago and have been a somewhat grim tourist attraction ever since. These coffins were probably made as an advertisement for the actual business, since it would hard to imagine someone actually ordering a coffin such as this.

“The scientists behind NASA's $2.5 billion Curiosity rover mission on Mars on Tuesday explained the nature of a tiny, gleaming "flower" embedded in Red Planet rock, and revealed where they'll be using the SUV-sized robot's drill for the first time”. – Alan Boyle via NBCNews.com

Photo: Scientists say that a “Martian flower”, seen here in an image from the Curiosity rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager, is a 2-millimeter-wide grain or pebble that's embedded in the surrounding rock. Another, darker-colored mineral grain can be seen above and to the left. (Photo by NASA)