Against the scorching sun, a hungry jackal chases a flock of birds looking for a quick morning snack. Taken in South Africa's Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, these images capture the moment a lone hunter tries, and then succeeds, in his pursuit. (Photo by John Mullineux/Solent News)

Undated handout photo of Buckbeak, a Hippogriff that lived with Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter series, has his feathers preened and replenished by featherologist Val Jones, as he will feature in the the Feathers and Flight event at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. This is the first make-over Buckbeak has received since the hugely popular Harry Potter film series was made. His intricate coat is created from thousands of individually airbrushed chicken and goose feathers that Val will carefully clean and replenish in time for the start of Feathers and Flight. Val will lead an expert team to demonstrate the techniques that made winged wonders such as Buckbeak and Fawkes the Phoenix a reality on screen. (Photo by Tim Anderson/PA Wire)

Beautiful, strange and occasionally alarming pictures from the shortlist for this year’s Wellcome image awards – which celebrate the very best in science photography and imaging – from an x-ray of a bat to a micrograph of a kidney stone. The exhibition opens on 12 March at three science centres and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Photo: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, also commonly known as thale cress. Some of the anthers are open, revealing pollen grains ready for dispersal. Arabidopsis was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced and is widely used as a model organism in molecular and plant biology. Horizontal width of image is 1200 microns. Magnification 100x. (Photo by Stefan Eberhard/Wellcome Images)

“Winter Climbing from inside Ben Nevis”. The view from inside the mountain, as a winter climber passes through the cave on Minus Three gully. Photo location: Ben Nevis, Fort William, Scotland. (Photo and caption by Daniel Wildey/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A U.S. soccer fan pretends that Uruguay's soccer striker Luis Suarez is biting him as he takes a selfie next to an Adidas advertisement featuring Suarez near Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 26, 2014. FIFA banned Suarez from all football activities for four months on Thursday for biting an opponent at the World Cup, a punishment that rules him out of the rest of the tournament. (Photo by Matt Dunham/AP Photo)

This tiny hedgehog is in a prickly position as hes unable to grow spikes, leaving him needing round-the-clock care. The woodland critter was found with no spikes and has been taken in by a family hoping to nurse him back to health so he can be released into the wild. Named Mr Prickleless, the hedgehog was rescued by Dina Nixon and her daughter Jennifer, 25, after being taken into a rescue centre in December last year. It is not known what happened to his spikes, but Dina has vowed that if they ever do return he will be returned to the wild. But for now the hedgehog has taken shelter in a rabbit hutch in her garden. (Photo by Caters News Agency)

People walk by a car destroyed by a tree which fell during a storm and strong winds, in Limoges, on May 21, 2014. High winds upto 120 km/h and storms have caused at least one death and cut off some 42 000 homes from electricity today in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France. (Photo by Pascal Lachenaud/AFP Photo)

A sloth peeks out from behind a door on a floating house in the “Lago do Janauari” near Manaus, Brazil, Tuesday, May 20, 2014. Manaus is one of the host cities for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)