“Great White Shark of Guadalupe Island”. A great white shark very quiet under the boat and a lot of fish. The sun ray lighting the head of the shark. Location: Guadalupe Island, Mexico. (Photo and caption by Marc Henauer/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

Photographer Pierre-Louis Ferrer shows viewers the beauty of France in a whole new light, shooting the country in beautiful infrared. Ferrer’s images are as enchanting as they are intriguing, displaying a whole new variation of color in shrubs, grass and trees, as well as famous landmarks. In some of Ferrer’s works, the foliage is an eye-catching canary yellow – a stark contrast to the more normal shades in the remainder of the images. In other works, whole forests glow red, giving the French countryside an otherworldly look. (Photo by Pierre-Louis Ferrer/Caters News Agency)

Winner. “I took this picture of a woman in traditional clothing in Cartagena, Colombia”. PAUL GOLDSTEIN, JUDGE: “The blaze of colour from every angle, the boldness of the picture, taken from behind, which gives it so much more allure and frankly a superb get up. Did I mention the colours? Oh, and that looks suspiciously like a Nokia”. (Photo by Stanislav Shmelev/The Guardian)

“A Mothers Tail”. A baby cub pulls on his mother's tail to get attention. Photo location: Masai Mara, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Tori Marsh/National Geographic Photo Contest)

If we asked you to think of your favorite cute animal, you might not immediately list a duck, but when you see this Reddit user and his pet duckling Peeps you may change your mind. Peeps is fuzzy, he’s lovable and he grew up in a beard (really). The man initially bought Peeps as an egg, thinking he was a chicken. He was wrong, but he didn’t care, it turned out to be one of the cutest friendships ever.

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)