If we asked you to think of your favorite cute animal, you might not immediately list a duck, but when you see this Reddit user and his pet duckling Peeps you may change your mind. Peeps is fuzzy, he’s lovable and he grew up in a beard (really). The man initially bought Peeps as an egg, thinking he was a chicken. He was wrong, but he didn’t care, it turned out to be one of the cutest friendships ever.

Winner, photojournalism. Elephant in the room, by Adam Oswell, Australia Zoo. Visitors watch a young elephant performing underwater. Oswell was disturbed by this scene, and organisations concerned with the welfare of captive elephants say performances like this encourage unnatural behaviour. In Thailand, there are now more elephants in captivity than in the wild. With the Covid pandemic causing tourism to collapse, elephant sanctuaries are becoming overwhelmed with animals that can no longer be looked after by their owners. (Photo by Adam Oswell/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)

LA Coroners leave the Beverly Hilton Hotel possibly carrying the body of the singer Whitney Houston in the early hours of February 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, CA. Singer and film star Whitney Houston aged 48 has died in her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Photo/Toby Canham/Getty Images)

A man walks past a mural depicting US actors John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson holding thermometers instead of guns amid the Covid-19 pandemic, in Tel Aviv on March 1, 2021. (Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP Photo)

A Bengal tigress who gave birth to four cubs at the Guadalajara Zoo, Jalisco state, Mexico runs at the zoo on October 5, 2021. (Photo by Ulises Ruiz/AFP Photo)

Taliban fighter, Mostashhed from Wardak province, looks on as he visits Kabul for the first time as hundreds of Taliban fighters take a day off to visit the amusement park at Kabul's Qargha reservoir, at the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan on October 8, 2021. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A model presents creations from the 2023 Spring/Summer collection by Japanese designer Lim Asafuji for the label “pays des fees” during the Tokyo Fashion Week in Tokyo, Japan, 01 September 2022. The presentation of the 2023 Spring/Summer collections runs from 29 August to 03 September. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)

Guardian of the Mangroves – Overall Winner. Tanya Houppermans, Cuba. A curious American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) swims right up to Tanya, at Gardens of the Queen (Jardines De La Reina), an archipelago off the coast of Cuba. It has been strictly protected since 1996, and is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. ‍ “The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves and I wanted to capture close ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat. I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical”. (Photo by Tanya Griffin Houppermans/Mangrove Photographer of the Year)