Japanese Macaque monkeys soak in the warmth of mountain hotsprings at Jigokudani Monkey Park, in Yamanouchi, central Japan, 19 January 2014. The Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata), also referred to as Snow Monkeys, live freely in this area that is covered by snow one third of the year. Jigokudani is the only known place in the world where monkeys bathe in natural hot springs. As a habit, they come down from the mountains where they spend the night and bath during the day. (Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/EPA)

Dubai is now home to what has been billed as the world’s largest indoor dog park, complete with customised luxury suites, 24/7 webcams, flat screen TVs and orthopedic mattresses. Launched during Easter at Dubai Investment Park, My Second Home already has many takers with 40 of its 200 residential luxury rooms booked for summer. Here: a dog sits on its bed at My Second Home, a newly opened luxury pet resort and spa, in Dubai, April 24, 2015. (Photo by Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters)

A mechanic examines a Gogoro Smartscooter which is connected to a tablet, in its shop in Taipei, Taiwan, July 6, 2015. Companies such as electric motor scooter firm Gogoro could hold the key to Taiwan's economic growth. In just three years, the start-up raised $150 million to develop the smartphone-synched bike, and a charging network for it. Gogoro's success in creating a home-grown, innovative product is precisely what Taiwan's government wants to foster as it seeks to reduce the export-driven economy's reliance on the island's world-class tech manufacturing sector. (Photo by Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

In this Tuesday, July 14, 2015, photo, Phoe Thaw, center, a member of the White New Blood lethwei fighters club, a Myanmar traditional martial-arts club which practices a rough form of kickboxing, stretches during a practice session in their gym on a street in Oakalarpa, north of Yangon, Myanmar. Three of the club's members competed this summer on a stage a world away from the street gym: a mixed-martial-arts “One Championship” event broadcast globally on cable television networks, where fighters could receive $1,000 for each fight, according to coach Myint Zaw who started the traditional fighters' club 15 years ago. (Photo by Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP Photo)

“The Amazon river has a newly discovered source. Completed last year and led by West Hansen and documented by award-winning freelance photographer Erich Schlegel, this is the first expedition to paddle from the furthest source of the earth's largest river to the ocean”. – zReportage. Photo: August 19, 2012 – Alpamarca, Peru – Amazon Express white water members Juan Antonio De Ugarte, of Peru, Rafael Ortiz, of Mexico, West Hansen, of the U.S., and Tino Specht, of the U.S., paddle down the Rio Gashan after leaving Lago Acucocha. Lago Acucocha is possibly the dry season source of the Amazon River. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/zReportage via ZUMA Press)

A blue crab, a highly invasive alien species, is seen at Lio Piccolo during the reforestation day on April 05, 2025 in Venice, Italy. The island of Lio Piccolo in the northern lagoon of Venice is being replanted with 16,000 new trees that will protect the salt marsh ecosystem that is fundamental to the natural health of Venice and the lagoon by WOWnature project, an Etifor initiative. (Photo by Simone Padovani/Getty Images)

A period of relative stability has put the Iranian capital No1 on the list of world cities that have achieved biggest improvements in liveability over the past five years, as calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The “most improved” top 10 contains some unexpected names. So, eg, the fourth place: Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Latest ranking: 128; Ranking five years ago: 131; Five-year index movement: 3.8%. Here: A supporter of Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara campaigns in a market in the city’s Koumassi quarter. (Photo by Sia Kambou/AFP Photo)

A woman applies lipstick in a car that is parked at a beach facing a volcanic rock called Devil's Finger outside Yuzhno-Kurilsk, the main settlement on the Southern Kurile island of Kunashir September 15, 2015. Russian residents of the island chain at the centre of a dispute between Japan and Russia that has held up a treaty to formally end World War Two hope a diplomatic solution will lure tourists and investment to help refurbish rickety infrastructure. The Southern Kuriles are referred to in Japan as the Northern Territories. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)