A woodpecker and an owl bicker on a tree branch near Bromsgrove in the West Midlands, UK in the second decade of July 2025. The photographer says the juvenile woodpecker, with a red crown, poked the owl in the eye before flying off. (Photo by Julie Yates/Solent News & Photo Agency)

It doesn’t make for the most flattering photoshoot, but there is a reason these zebras at Lewa wildlife conservancy in Kenya in the second decade of August 2025 are stood head to tail: they use their tails to swat flies from each others’ faces. (Photo by Andrew Campbell/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A wildlife photographer captured a rare moment of harmony in the animal kingdom – a snake and a frog calmly share the same branch. The serene scene was spotted by Dzulfikri, 53, in a garden in West Jakarta, Indonesia in May 2025. (Photo by Dzulfikri/Caters News Agency)

An owl curiously peeks out from a tree hollow. The pictures of the spotted owlet were taken by Anuj Jain in Chandigarh, India in the second decade of November 2025. (Photo by Anuj Jain/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A raccoon crawls out of its hiding place on the roof in Berlin, Germany on May 12, 2020. Every evening he leaves his sleeping place to go in search of food. (Photo by Britta Pedersen/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa)

Volunteers of a Wild Nature Preservation center release a group of owl chicks from the Toro Mountain in Menorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, 31 July 2019. (Photo by David Arquimbau Sintes/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Attracting more than 450 entries from around the world, the winners are selected by a panel of expert judges including ZSL honorary conservation fellow and television presenter Kate Humble, and renowned ornithologist Bill Oddie. Here: Anoura Geoffroy’s tailless bat by Nicolas Reusens. The Perfect Moment category; Adult runner up. (Photo by Nicolas Reusens/ZSL Animal Photography Prize 2015)

The Grand National springs to mind as the yearly highlight of the “sport of kings” – thoroughbred steeds and their brave jockeys triumphing (or failing) over gruelling courses and high-fenced adversity. And now steeplechase enthusiasts can add another event to the annuls of great sporting occasions, namely the Stuttgart rabbit show jumping. Here: Rabbit showjumping at an animal fair in Stuttgart, Germany, on November 16, 2014. (Photo by Action Press/Rex Features)