With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)

A lion rests in the Nairobi National Park, Kenya on January 6, 2021. (Photo by Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)

Fast food got a whole new meaning in Hokkaido, Japan, where a vole was captured fleeing from a fox in the first decade of January 2025. (Photo by Hiroki Inoue/Solent News)

Esau the ape at the piano. (Photo by Reinhold Thiele/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1900

A group of children and their dog playing an Easter game in Cardiff. The game involves trying to eat an Easter egg off a piece of string without using their hands. (Photo by Richards/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 26th March 1937

The Burney, a new streamlined car on the London streets, designed by Sir Denniston Burney who was responsible for the design of the R100 (R 100) airship. The engine is in the rear. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). 15th September 1930

Spencer Slate, costumed as a scuba-diving Easter bunny, is shown in this handout photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau as he hides eggs amid eel grass, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo, Florida March 31, 2013. About 80 adults and children participated in an Underwater Easter Egg Hunt, seeking real hard-boiled eggs painted with non-toxic food coloring to avoid adverse effects on the marine ecosystem. (Photo by Bob Care/Reuters/Florida Keys News Bureau)

A biker passes by a pair of mailboxes in the Capitol Hill neighborhood November 6, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. Colorado is considered by most experts to be one of the key battleground state in this year's presidential election. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/AFP Photo)