People remove meat from the bones of animals slaughtered for Eid al-Adha after they have been discarded at a garbage dump in Yangon, Myanmar, September 25, 2015. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

A woman daubed in colours shakes her head to remove the coloured powder during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India on March 18, 2022. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

A worker wearing a protective mask uses a blower to remove leafs from a walkway during sunny autumn weather near Stallikon, Switzerland on October 27, 2020. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

A riot policeman fires into the air during clashes with opposition supporters at a rally demanding a referendum to remove President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, May 11, 2016. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Andrew Parkinson, animal behaviour category winner: Crepuscular Contentment, Derbyshire. “In 15 years of working with badgers I’ve never seen a badger sit out in the open to have a scratch. I was sat concealed behind a tree and downwind so it was especially nice that the badger had his back to me, demonstrating just how inconspicuous and inconsequential my presence was”. (Photo by Andrew Parkinson/British Wildlife Photography Awards 2017)

In more “raccoons are getting more like us” news, a drunk raccoon was found in a liquor store in Virginia, US in the first decade of December 2025. The animal had got into the shop via some loose ceiling tiles, knocked bottles of spirits off the shelves, lapped up the contents and passed out in the toilets. Once it had sobered up, it was released back into the wild – no doubt with a crashing hangover. (Photo by AP Photo)

A 15-year-old girl denied a horse from her parents has turned to a cow to fulfil her riding dreams. Teenager Regina Mayer, from southern Germany, is able to ride her cow, Luna. She has even trained her bovine pet to soar over a beer-crate hurdle like a regular show jumper. Why, you may well ask, when most cow-owners are surely content to let the creatures chew and lactate and sit down to indicate the imminent arrival of rain? Well, Regina's parents wouldn't let her have a horse.

This file photo provided on Sunday February 15, 2015 by the Syrian anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian rebels firing locally made shells against the Syrian government forces, in Aleppo, Syria. (Photo by AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center)