A pair of gloved hands are dwarfed by the furry paws of Boris the Polar Bear at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's animal health care hospital Saturday, February 23, 2013 in Tacoma, Washington. (Dean J. Koepfler/Tacoma News Tribune/MCT)

Using body paint and a woodland like location, Gesine appears to have created a model to look just like a red panda, Dortmund, Germany, October, 2016. An artist brings animals to life using body paint and contorted models. At first glance, these images could be mistaken for portraits of wildlife in their natural habitat were created with paper and paint. However, they are actually the incredible works of illusion by talented body painter Gesine Marwedel, who paints models to creates realistic animals. (Photo by Gesine Marwedel/Barcroft Images)

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)

These breath-taking photographs reveal the everyday lives of animals living in the wild. The incredible images were taken by wildlife photographer Wim van dan Heever, from Pretoria, South Africa, during trips to locations including Japan, Botswana and Svalbard. The 43-year-old has been photographing wildlife since he was a young boy and turned his passion for animals into a career and set up ODP Safaris. He has travelled across the globe to photograph wild animals – from lions and tigers, to elephants, dolphins and eagles – as they hunt, give birth and graze in their natural habitats. Here: Lions submerged in water. (Photo by Wim van den Heever/Caters News)

“Bazooka”, a one year old stray cat, is treated at the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) clinic in Tel Aviv, Israel, 06 January 2016. Bazooka arrived at the clinic in critical condition after he went through severe abuse with bruises all over his body and painted with pink oxidation. The Israeli street cat population is estimated to be about two million. Without enough financial support from the state, animal rights organizations find it difficult to keep the up with the pace when it comes to spaying and neutering feral cats, causing the population to grow. (Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA)

These animal portraits and painted headdresses by Amy Hamilton are adorably perfect for this time of year. They feel so soft and wintery, and would make amazing notecards for gifts.

Painter Alexander Zavala residing in Gelendzhik, painted in the style of a historical series of paintings about animalism epic cats.