A cygnet keeps snug under its mother’s wing at Heronry Pond in Wanstead Park in east London in the last decade of May 2024. (Photo by Jeff Moore/The Times)

A mountain hare shakes off rain from its fur, in Findhorn Valley, Moray, Scotland in the second decade of August 2024. In summer, the hare’s coat is a grey-brown colour with a tinge of blue, making them hard to spot against the heather moorland. In winter, it changes to almost completely white for camouflage in the snow. (Photo by Will Hall/Solent News)

Dai Shuqing's husband sits among adopted stray dogs at an animal shelter on December 15, 2006 in the outskirts of Xian of Shaanxi Province, China. The animal shelter, established by animal lover Dai Shuqing, is located at an abandoned warehouse which houses some 100 dogs and costs over 2,000 yuan (about US $255) per month. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

A photographer has done her best to guess what her dog is daydreaming about – creating a series of fantasy adventures around her unaware pooch as he takes his daily naps. (Photo by Caters News)

Spanish artist Maximo Riera has produced a miniature series of his animal chair collection. The models are created entirely using nylon and a type of 3D printing called SLS (selective laser sintering).The process enables the small objects to achieve the best possible quality, resistance and lightest weight. based on the large-scale designs that combined animals and furniture into one item, the unconventional and peculiar compositions are still apparent in these latest versions.

A close up of a caracal lynx's face looking into a camera on January 2014 in Western Cape, South Africa. (Photo by Dale Morris/Barcroft Media)

A curious leopard cub toys with a camera at MalaMala Game Reserve in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. (Photo by Barcroft Media)

This is the moment a diver appears to shake hands with a giant 52ft whale. The divers were just metres away when one humpback whale – which weighs 36,000kg – extends its giant flipper in a peaceful manner. (Photo by Masa Ushioda/SeaPics/Solent News & Photo Agency)