These hyper realistic drawings are so lifelike they could pass for photographs. The incredibly detailed works of art were created by self-taught artist Ivan Hoo, from Singapore, who earns a living from his realistic drawings and paintings. The 31-year-old takes up to three days to complete the impressive pieces, which include animal portraits and still life drawings of everyday items such as a Starbucks cup. The A3 sketches are completed using a range of soft pastel pencils and are drawn from still life, or a photograph taken by Ivan himself. Here: Ivan Hoos drawing of a pug. (Photo by Ivan Hoo/Caters News)

Chief priest Gbenga Saala raises a cutlass to kill a dog during an annual prayer and sacrifice celebration of the iron god Ogun in Abuja, Nigeria, June 23, 2015. Every year worshippers offer a dog as sacrifice to Ogun, a traditional Nigerian deity, in hope of an auspicious year ahead. Taxi drivers, blacksmiths, panel beaters and mechanics – trades that depend on metal for their livelihood – pay homage to Ogun, led by high priest Gbenga Saala. As part of the ceremony, the priest pours the dog’s blood on symbols of these workers’ trade: keys, spanners and other tools piled up in a metal barrel. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

“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)

A boy sits in a canoe in front of a shed built on a raft in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. In Makoko, a sprawling slum of Nigeria's megacity Lagos, a floating school capable of holding up to a hundred pupils has since November brought free education to the waterways known as the Venice of Lagos. It offers the chance of social mobility for youngsters who, like most of the city's 21 million inhabitants, lack a reliable electricity and water supply and whose water-based way of life is threatened by climate change as well as rapid urbanisation. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

A new book published by the UK Natural History Museum showcases some of the most memorable underwater photographs taken over the last few decades in its annual wildlife photographer of the year competition. Here: Giant gathering by Tony Wu. “The first indication that something extraordinary was going on were the blows, huge numbers of them – the exhalations of huge numbers of whales. Entering the water, the photographer witnessed an extraordinary scene”. (Photo by Tony Wu/Unforgettable Underwater Photography/NHM)

In this Saturday, April 8, 2017 photo, a keeper walks camels to the Al Marmoom Camel Racetrack, in al-Lisaili about 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Camel racing is a big-money sport and fast thoroughbreds can fetch well over a million dollars. As rising temperatures across Gulf Arab countries signal the end of the winter camel racing season, Dubai is wrapping up its races with the annual Al Marmoom Heritage Festival that has drawn thousands of camels from across the oil-rich Gulf. (Photo by Kamran Jebreili/AP Photo)

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)

In this Friday, March 3, 2017 photo, a ribbon on a staff member's outfit blows in the breeze as she arrives for the opening session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress (CPPCC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The annual session of China's ceremonial legislature is designed to awe onlookers with its size and sweep, yet the experience is also made up of tiny moments, details that point to the personalities of the participants and the event's unique, sometimes quirky, traits that a casual observer might easily miss. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)