Todd Bretl specializes in underwater photography, and is able to capture striking photos of aquatic life big and small. His photos of sharks are particularly striking; though he rarely faces hostility from the animals, he tries not to spend too much time looking through his viewfinder and many shots are framed by educated guesses and impeccable timing. What follows are photographs taken over the past several years on trips to the Bahamas and Isla Guadalupe, an island off the coast of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. (Photo by Todd Bretl)

A mahout watches the Thai animation movie Kan Kluay with his elephant in Ayuthaya province, about 80km (49 miles) north of Bangkok June 5, 2006. The movie tells the story of a young Thai wild elephant who, while looking for his father, becomes the war elephant of the Thai King fighting against Burma and restored Thailand's ancient Ayuthaya empire that existed about 400 years ago. (Photo by Sukree Sukplang/Reuters)

The Atlantic Puffin is definitely a curious-looking bird. The special coloring that this bird develops for the breeding season in the spring is very reminiscent of tropical birds. The bright colors of the beak and the markings around the eyes serve no particular advantage and have evolved as a result of sexual selection. However, Puffins don’t look that pretty all year round. They shed all these festive colors in partial moult after the breeding season is over. They lose the ornaments around their eyes, their face becomes darker, and their beak becomes very different. The natural habitat of these birds is the cold waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Visitors look at an artwork “Hierarchy of Prosperity” created by Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho during the VIP preview of the art fair “Art Basel” in Hong Kong, Tuesday, March 22, 2016. A set of gold-plated metal cubes, tapestries embroidered by unknown North Korean artisans and bales of cardboard waste are among the highlights of the Art Basel Hong Kong fair opening this week. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

Members of Brazil's Movimento dos Sem-Teto (Roofless Movement) stand in the hallway of one of the 11 empty buildings that the movement took over recently, in the centre of Sao Paulo, November 6, 2012. According to City Hall, there are some 400,000 people in need of stable housing, including the 4,000 families of the Roofless Movement who are squatting in abandoned or vacant buildings that range from apartment blocks to hotels, in Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

A large balloon of a face of “ojisan”, a middle aged man, floats in the sky above the grounds of Nishiki elementary school in Utsunomiya in Tochigi prefecture, 100km north of Tokyo on December 21, 2014. Members of art group “Me”, meaning “eye” in Japanese and the Utsunomiya Museum of Art launched an art installation “The Day an Ojisan's Face Floated in the Sky”, a 15-meter by 10-meter face balloon of the depicted man, who was auditioned in the city, looking down on his home town from the sky. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)

One-day-old baby giraffe calf Gus looks at the camera at Noah's Ark farm on May 12, 2017 in Bristol, England. The baby giraffe was born yesterday at the zoo farm in North Somerset. In the wild, populations of giraffes are suffering from a continuing decline, with 97,500 estimated in Africa in 2015. Since 1985 the total giraffe population has fallen by 35%. New arrival Gus joins brothers George, 4 and Geoffrey, 2. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

A zoo staff feeds crocodiles as visitors look on at the Malabon Zoo in Malabon City, north of Manila, Philippines 21 December 2017. Wearing Santa Claus hats for the upcoming Christmas season, owner Manny Tangco (R, holding megaphone) and some select animals gave visitors a tour of the 28-year-old zoo. (Photo by Rolex Dela Pena/EPA/EFE)