Women work on a colourful display of paper flowers ready to be showcased during the traditional Tet Nguyen Dan festival in Thanh Tien, Vietnam early February 2024. Tet celebrates the arrival of Spring according to the Vietnamese calendar, often celebrated in the early weeks of February, and is this year being held on February 10. (Photo by Nguyen Sanh Quoc Huy/Solent News)

Michael Olivant, a Times reader, saw a chance to contribute when a Dalmatian pelican landed on his wife’s head at Lake Kerkini in northern Greece in the first decade of February 2025. (Photo by Michael Olivant/The Times)

A smiling gecko bursts through a gap in the bark to surprise photographer in West Java, Indonesia in the last decade of March 2025. (Photo by Dzul Duzulfikri/Animal News Agency)

Greyhounds resume racing behind closed doors on June 01, 2020 in Perry Barr, England. Greyhound racing across England is returning as restrictions on sporting events are relaxed during the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

The endangered kea is the world’s only alpine parrot, and one of the most intelligent birds. They show no fear of humans and are thieves and pranksters. The parrot is seen in the Whakaari conservation area, near Glen Orchy in the Otago region of New Zealand, a place where historic huts and mining relics are surrounded by stunning mountains covered in tussock. (Photo by Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian)

A Porcupine on display during the PBS portion of the 2010 Summer TCA Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 5, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Indian dancers perform a fire breathing act during a procession to mark the 661st anniversary of the birth of Hindu guru Bawa Lal Dayal Maharaj in Amritsar on February 9, 2016. Bawa Lal Dayal Maharaj, a popular leader of his time, is especially revered by devotees of a temple in the town of Dhyanpur, some 45 kms north of Amritsar. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

It’s enough to make your head spin. The photographer Katherine Young set out to shoot spiral staircases in London, England to great effect, including this shot she calls the Downward Spiral Part III. (Photo by Katherine Young/Rex Features/Shutterstock)