Respect, Kronotsky nature reserve, Russia. The photographer’s cat, Ryska – her name means little lynx in Russian – stands outside their cabin and with aggressive posturing warns off a fox. In winter, foxes would regularly visit the cabin searching for food. If one peered in at the window, possible when the snow was deep, Ryska would sit on the other side, fur raised, and growl. When outside, she would hold her ground. The foxes were not always frightened and so encounters could be a sort of dance. (Photo by Igor Shpilenok/Unforgettable Behaviour/NHM)

Huang Wensi in action during her final training session in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China, before she heads to Taiwan for her Asia Female Continental Super Flyweight Championship match, September 23, 2018. Huang is one of a small but growing number of women in China to embrace professional boxing, relishing its intense nature despite traditional stereotypes that steer women away from such activities. “A women is not just limited to being a wife or mother in the house”, she said. (Photo by Yue Wu/Reuters)

These snaps capture true winter wonderlands – as Mother Nature's icy grip takes hold of America's National Parks. From snow-capped mountains in Yosemite to an icy still Glacier Bay, the incredible images show their beauty is year round. In other breath-taking shots crisp frost lines the paths through Great Smokey Mountains and Crater Lake has had more than a dusting of snow. Here: Apostle Island National Lakeshore Park in Wisconsin. (Photo by U.S. Department of the Interior/Cater News)

An orphaned giraffe nuzzling a wildlife keeper at Sarara camp in Kenya, one of 70 pictures being sold by Prints for Nature (printsfornature.com) to raise money for work by the Conservation International charity. This giraffe was rehabilitated and returned to the wild, as a number of others have done before him. Right now, giraffe are undergoing what has been referred to as a silent extinction. Current estimates are that giraffe populations across Africa have dropped 40 percent in three decades, plummeting from approximately 155,000 in the late 1980s to under 100,000 today. (Photo by Ami Vitale/National Geographic)

“A balancing rock, also called balanced rock or precarious boulder, is a naturally occurring geological formation featuring a large rock or boulder, sometimes of substantial size, resting on other rocks, bedrock or on glacial till. Some formations known by this name only appear to be balancing but are in fact firmly connected to a base rock by a pedestal or stem”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “The Brimham Rocks are balancing rock formations located on Brimham Moor in North Yorkshire, England. The rocks stand at a height of nearly 30 metres in an area owned by the National Trust which is part of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”. – Wikipedia. (Photo by Tee Time Tony)

“Nomascus is the second most speciose genus of gibbons (family Hylobatidae). Originally this genus was a subgenus of Hylobates, and all individuals were considered one species, Hylobates concolor. Species within Nomascus are characterized by 52 chromosomes. Some species are all black, some light with a distinct black tuft of crown fur, and some by distinct, light-colored cheek patches. Nomascus is found from southern China (Yunnan) to southern Vietnam, and also on Hainan Island. One of the genus' species, Nomascus nasutus, has been deemed “the most critically endangered ape species in the world”. All of the species in this genus are endangered or critically endangered”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A newborn White-Cheeked Gibbon clings to its mother in the Nanning Zoo on April 12, 2004 in Nanning, Guangxi province, China. The White-Cheeked Gibbon's natural habitat is Southern China as well as Vietnam and Laos. They are classified as highly endangered and are on the brink of extinction due to poaching and reduction of natural rainforests. (Photo by Getty Images)

Winner. “This was taken in the South Ari Atolls, Maldives, as the south-west monsoon season was setting in. It features my partner – and dive buddy – Emma after surfacing at the end of the last dive of the day to find 1.5 metre swells and dark monsoon clouds. MICK RYAN, JUDGE: This beautiful portrait of a diver in an ocean swell below a menacing sky stands out this month for its emotional and elemental beauty. It is a reminder that while we may play among nature we are always dwarfed by its power and must be constantly on our guard”. (Photo by Simon Dunn/The Guardian)

A river otter (lontra longicaudis) of 6-weeks-old looks in the mirror during a bath in the Animal Welfare Unit of the Zoo in Cali, Colombia, on October 22, 2019. The baby otter was found abandoned brought to the Cali Zoo for breeding, for its extensive experience in raising these species. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature the river otter (lontra longicaudis) are in danger of extinction, because of mining, agriculture, pollution of rivers and housing construction in their habitat. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP Photo)