Pangolins in Crisis: Brent Stirton, South Africa; 1st place, Natural world and wildlife. “Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, with an estimated one million trafficked to Asia in the last 10 years. Their scales are used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine, and their meat is sold as a high-priced delicacy. As a result, pangolins are listed as critically endangered and anyone who trades or consumes them is breaking the law. This body of work exposes the trade, while exploring aspects of illegality and celebrating the people who are trying to save these animals”. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Sony World Photography Awards 2020)

We’re showcasing photo-manipulation by Jan Oliehoek, a Dutch artist with a love for animals, photography and Photoshop. Oliehoek loves creating animal species that somehow never made it into our biology books, such as felines with rodent heads, lambs with the body of a squirrel, zebra rhinos and hippo-frogs! He’s currently having two of his pictures featured in Crazy Photography, an upcoming title from Vivays Publishing

“Meet the woman dispelling the myths about one of the worlds most feared ocean predators by swimming without protection with great white sharks. Petite beauty Ocean Ramsey travels the globe swimming with many species of sharks hoping to prove they are nothing like their Jaws film reputation”. – Caters News. Photo: Ocean Ramsey freediving with a shark. (Photo by Juan Oliphant/Caters News)

View of a raccoon dog or Tanuki (Nyctereutes procyonoides) at the Chapultpec Zoo in Mexico City on August 06, 2015. This species is native from Japan and China. (Photo by Alfredo Estrella/AFP Photo)

The Waitomo Glowworm Caves attraction is a cave at Waitomo on the North Island of New Zealand, known for its population of glowworms, Arachnocampa luminosa. This species is found exclusively in New Zealand. They are around the size of an average mosquito. This cave is part of the Waitomo Caves system that includes the Ruakuri Cave and the Aranui Cave.

Baloo (R), a North American Black Bear, rubs snouts with his companion Shere Hkhan, a Bengal tiger, inside their shared enclosure at Noah's Ark animal sanctuary in Locust Grove, Georgia, USA, 28 August 2014. According to the facility, the pair and a lion named Leo, were confiscated at a young age from a drug dealer's basement in Atlanta, Georgia. Noah's Ark cares for about 100 different species of animals on a 250 acre farm since 1990. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/EPA)

Elephants enjoy various kinds of fruits and vegetables during an all-you-can-eat elephant buffet held to mark the National Elephant Day at the ancient historical city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, 13 March 2014. The annual National Thai Elephant Day is held on 13 March to celebrate and drawing public attention for more concerted effort to save the species and protect its habitat. Thailand sees a severe decline with less than 3,000 wild elephants left in the kingdom. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

“The frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) is one of two extant species of shark in the family Chlamydoselachidae, with a wide but patchy distribution in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This uncommon species is found over the outer continental shelf and upper continental slope, generally near the bottom though there is evidence of substantial upward movements. It has been caught as deep as 1,570 m (5,150 ft), whereas in Suruga Bay, Japan it is most common at depths of 50–200 m (160–660 ft). Exhibiting several “primitive” features, the frilled shark has often been termed a «living fossil»”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A 1.6 meter long Frill shark swims in a tank after being found by a fisherman at a bay in Numazu, on January 21, 2007 in Numazu, Japan. The frill shark, also known as a Frilled shark usually lives in waters of a depth of 600 meters and so it is very rare that this shark is found alive at sea-level. It's body shape and the number of gill are similar to fossils of sharks which lived 350,000,000 years ago. (Photo by Awashima Marine Park/Getty Images)