An elephant sprays tourists with water in celebration of the Songkran Water Festival in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok, Thailand April 11, 2017. Trained elephants sprayed motorists and passers-by with water in Thailand's old capital city of Ayutthaya on Tuesday to welcome in the Buddhist New Year, known as “Songkran”. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

Tourists crowd a water park in Wuhan city, central China's Hubei province on July 15, 2017. Days of heat wave drove many citizens to the water park for fun and coolness. Nanchang has become the new four “furnace cities” in China according to a ranking of the hottest cities released by the China Meteorological Administration on July 9. (Photo by Imaginechina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A catholic faithful smeared in burnt oil, takes part in the opening of the ten-day celebration of the Santo Domingo de Guzman festival in Managua, on August 1, 2019. In Central America the black devil, or El Cadejo, is an evil dog-like spirit with glowing red eyes that locals believe eats new born puppies. (Photo by Inti Ocon/AFP Photo)

Football transfers are not cheap. To have a player strengthen their ranks, teams are willing to pay big money. The football transfer considered to be the most expensive in the sport's history was that of Gareth Bale leaving Tottenham to play at Real Madrid. The Spanish club paid not less than £86 million (about $133 million at today's exchange rates) to have the player among its own. But recent news suggest that this record might be broken this year. According to reports in the media, UK Premier League team Manchester United is willing to almost double that amount.

Comic club member Michael Kenney pauses on South Broad Street to adjust his costume during the 116th annual Mummers Parade in Philadelphia on Friday, January 1, 2016. Outrageously costumed Mummers strutted their stuff Friday at the city's annual New Year's Day parade, a colorful celebration that features string bands, comic brigades, elaborate floats and plenty of feathers and sequins. (Photo by Joseph Kaczmarek/AP Photo)

Lady officers of the Philippine National Police force show the taped muzzle of their guns at a police camp in Taguig City, south of Manila, Philippines, 22 December 2014. Law enforcement units all over the country held a ceremonial taping of firearms as a counter measure against cases of indiscriminate firing and illegal discharge of service weapons during the upcoming Christmas and New Year celebrations. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA)

Museum employee Victoria views a giant grouper fish specimen at the Natural History Museum in west London March 25, 2015. It forms part of a new exhibition, “Coral Reefs: Secret Cities of the Sea”, featuring a panoramic virtual dive and over 250 specimens from the Museum's coral, fish and marine invertebrate collection, which opens on March 27. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

It's often said that pets and their owners can start to look alike, but these adorable photographs take the old mantra to a new extreme. They are the work of Svetlana Valyiskaya (27), from St Petersburg, who snaps pets in everyday poses in her spare time from her job as a commercial photographer. The vibrant costumes and scenes, which Svetlana designs herself, have made the photos a hit in her native Russia – and it's not hard to see why. She said: “I really love animals, they are loyal, faithful and true and always interesting to work with – plus they never criticise the photographs afterwards”. (Photo by Svetlana Valyiskaya/Mercury)