Michael O’Neill won a prize in animal portraits with fry of a peacock bass hovering around their mother for protection against predators in South Florida. (Photo by Michael Patrick O'Neill/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year)

Fossil records indicate that this early lizard, Megalania (Megalania prisca or Varanus priscus), was a whopping seven metres in length. They were part of a megafaunal assemblage that inhabited southern Australia during the Pleistocene. The youngest fossil remains date to around 50,000 years ago. The first aboriginal settlers of Australia might have encountered them and been a factor in their extinction. (Photo by Sky TV/The Guardian)

A cook grills chicken during the Festival des Grillades, in the yard of the Culture Palace of Abidjan, September 5, 2015. The two day festival was iniated in 2008 to promote Ivorian cuisine, which revolves around grilled food. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)

Mary, 8-months-old female orphan elephant, drinks milk at Winga Baw Elephant Conservation Camp during the ceremony to mark World Elephant Day at Bago Region, Myanmar, 12 August 2017. Winga Baw Elephant Conservation Camp, 34-hectare former timber camp for logs located in Bago Region, currently has 14 elephants and was opened for recreation for locals as well as for tourists. World Elephant Day is marked annually on 12 August. (Photo by Lynn Bo Bo/EPA/EFE)

People walk along a street with long-tailed macaques in Lopburi, north of Bangkok November 29, 2015. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Renowned amphibian and reptile photographer Matthijs Kuijpers has released his first book, “Cold Instinct”. Kuijpers says the aim of the work is “for the viewer to abandon the fear and negative thoughts that often surround these animals”. What’s left is the bizarre beauty of these creatures in their simplest form – no backgrounds and no distractions. Here: Mossy frog (Theloderma corticale). (Photo by Matthijs Kuijpers/The Guardian)

Giant panda Jia Jia enjoys her birthday cake made with ice and vegetables at Ocean Park in Hong Kong, Tuesday, July 28, 2015 as she celebrates her 37-year-old birthday. Jia Jia broke the Guinness World Records title for “Oldest Panda Living in Captivity” on Tuesday. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

A visitor poses for a picture during Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 16, 2017. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)