Combat between two male stag beetles, Italy, 2022. During the mating season, male stag beetles (Lucanus cervus) go into a frenzy, with lively but harmless clashes, in which bigger males often have the advantage over smaller ones due to their impressive mandibles. Longer larval development and genetic traits can increase the size of some individuals, but all saproxylic beetles are threatened by poor forest management, logging and dead wood removal to “clean” the forest. (Photo by Iacopo Nerozzi)

Tiffany Noreuil at the Oregon Humane Society in Portland, Oregon, holds feline Hercules, a 20-pound stray whose girth got him stuck in a pet door while trying to plunder some dog food. (Photo by AP Photo)

See also: Large People

“Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately 1 metre (39 in) in length with a short, stubby tail. They are adaptable in their habitat tolerances, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as an isolated patch of about 300 ha in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “Abdul”, a baby Common Wombat, is one of the marsupials on show during the spring baby boom at Taronga Zoo September 1, 2005 in Sydney, Australia. “Abdul” was orphaned when his mother was killed by a car. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

The National Geographic Photo Ark is a travelling exhibition of photographer Joel Sartore’s quest to create a photo archive of biodiversity around the world. So far, Sartore has captured studio portraits of more than 6,000 species – a number that he hopes to double. On 1 July, the ark will open at Melbourne zoo – the first time it has been exhibited in the southern hemisphere. More than 50 portraits will be on display, including many of Australian endangered animals being protected by programs at the zoo itself. These captions have been edited from text supplied by Melbourne zoo. Here: Barking owl. (Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark/The Guardian)

Little owl chicks in Northumberland, UK on August 19, 2018. Strutting up and down and barrelling through the air, these Little Owl chicks will soon be fending for themselves. The intense little birds were snapped by wildlife photographer Bill Doherty in his native Northumberland. The chicks have about seven or eight weeks to learn their survival skills before their parents drive them away to fend for themselves. (Photo by Bill Doherty/South West News Service)

Highly commended birds : Crested guan by Tim Hunt (UK). ‘This photo shows a crested guan in the cloud forests of Costa Rica as it pauses while foraging on a lone branch. Due to the clouds that are so typical for this habitat, I could often only photograph the bird’s silhouette against a grey sky. But then, for a short moment only, the sun broke through the clouds, and I overexposed the image by over two stops in order to blow out the background and allow this beautifully marked bird to stand out’. (Photo by Tim Hunt/GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015)

A palm squirrel and ring-rosed parakeet compete for space on a stump in a residential area of Chandigarh, India in the last decade of August 2024. (Photo by Anuj Jain/Solent News)

An alligator devours a fish carcass he stole from a raven in Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida on November 24, 2022. The Big Cypress Swamp is a freshwater swampland located near the Everglades National Park. (Photo by Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)