These spectacular pictures show the incredible moment a rare natural phenomenon happens in the night sky. Red sprite lightning lasts only a millisecond and takes place high above a tunderstorm cloud.The breathtaking flashes of light are caused by huge electrical discharges of lightning in the sky. Marko Korosec, 32, was lucky enough to catch these sprites on camera after months of trying. Mr Korosec, from Sezana in Slovenia, took the shots whilst he was following storms in Vivaro, Italy. (Photo by Marko Korosec/Solent News/SIPA Press)

A Palestinian boy herds sheep in front of the ruins of Yasser Arafat International Airport, which was bombed by Israel in the past, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip February 5, 2016. Nabil Shurafa's travel agency in Gaza was once packed with clients booking flights to London, Paris, New York or cities across the Arab world. These days, he's lucky if anyone comes in, as so few people can get out. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Two horses appear to burst into laughter before a sweet embrace. The horses both turn their head to look at the camera and flash their teeth, treating the lucky photographer to a rare shot. Moments later the pair show their affectionate side by coming together and “hugging”. Photographer Nir Amos, 34, said he was “amazed” to capture the horses “laughing” in a field near Skógar, in the south east of Iceland on July 31, 2018. (Photo by Nir Amos/Solent News & Photo Agency)

These Animal Cling Rings are by Japanese artist Jiro Miura, working under brand name Count Blue. Miura creates these exquisitely detailed animal rings as well as figurines; his designs have also been used to create mass produced phone plugs and rings. It's a lucky artist who sees his work become so popular.

Russian artist Salavat Fidai is obsessed with things in miniature, and he has previously painted miniatures on pumpkin seeds and carved sculptures into the graphite tips of pencils. For this project, he's gone for something a little bit bigger, but not by much. One of Fidai's favorite painters is the legendary Vincent Van Gogh, so he decided to do a series where he recreated some of Van Gogh's famous works on matchboxes.

Taken by photographer, Denis Budkov, 33, the Plosky Tolbachik is one of a cluster of volcanoes located in the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia. After taking a lucky group of tourists to the crater of the flat volcano, the Russian photographer managed to get less than 300 metres away from the spurting jets of lava. Photo: The underground entrance to the volcano resembles a scene from the latest Hobbit movie. (Photo by Denis Budkov/Caters News)

Bloodthirsty by Thomas P. Peschak, Germany/South Africa — winner, Behaviour: birds. When rations run short on Wolf Island, in the remote northern Galápagos, the sharp-beaked ground finches become vampires. Their sitting targets are Nazca boobies and other large birds. The finches rely on a scant diet of seeds and insects, which regularly dries up, so they drink blood to survive. ‘I’ve seen more than half a dozen finches drinking from a single Nazca booby,’ says Tom. Rather than leave their nests the boobies tolerate the vampires, and the blood loss doesn’t seem to cause permanent harm. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)