These hilarious photos show some of nature’s mightiest animals — yawning away! (Actually – not always; AvaxNews). The images were taken by photographers across the world, from the African savannas to the Pacific Ocean. Here: Elephant Seal. (Photo by David Crocker/Caters News Agency)

A devotee immerses an idol of elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha in an artificial pond during Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India on September 20, 2023. (Photo by Aditya/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A mahout rides an elephant among the traffic down a street in Piliyandala, a suburb of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on September 27, 2020. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP Photo)

The elephant cow Omysha dives under water in its enclosure at the Zoo in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, February 3, 2021. (Photo by Alexandra Wey/Keystone via AP Photo)

Residents look at an injured wild elephant walking outside their house in a village near Amchang wildlife sanctuary on the outskirts of Guwahati, Saturday, August 9, 2025. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

A hunter holds a shot female pheasant next to his dog “Lola”, a Deutsch female Kurzhaar, during the first day of the Italy hunting season in Castell'Azzara, Tuscany, central Italy, September 20, 2015. The number of hunters in Italy has been decreasing, from 1,701,853 in 1980 to 751.876 in 2007, with a percentage reduction of 55.8%, according to the latest available numbers from the national statistics bureau ISTAT. (Photo by Max Rossi/Reuters)

Completion is near on Monaco's tallest skyscraper ever, and its first new one since the 1980s. Fueled by a luxury-housing boom in the tax-haven nation, the Odeon Tower's so-called Sky Penthouse is expected to sell for more than any other apartment in the world has ever sold before. Photo: The five-story Sky Penthouse is expected to be complete in September 2015. The water slide extends from a dance floor in the residence down to a private infinity pool. (Photo by Tour Odeon)