CARRYING a fully grown goat on his back, this five-year-old boy is a child shepherd in the mountains of northern Ethiopia. Away from modern civilization, children living in the Simien Mountains spend their gruelling days herding, or carrying, animals and walking miles through the rocky terrain. From the age of five these children are responsible for goats and sheep in the highlands and when they do rest, the boys and girls are schooled in classrooms made from mud, rocks and wood. German photographer Mario Gerth trekked 3,000 metres up the Ethiopian mountain range to visit this group of Tigray people and their hardy children and witness their unorthodox lifestyle.
NOT YOUR everyday selfie, this plucky diver poses with some of the scariest predators in the ocean .
An osprey soars through the air at 30 miles per hour before swooping down to catch its prey from a lake .
This hungry white tiger has just one thing on her mind - to taste fresh meat .
A northern potoo shows it is a master of disguise as it perches on a tree stump and blends into the bark .
A middle spotted woodpecker swoops into her nest and feeds her young in a forest in Trentino, Italy .
THIS RING of fire in the sky is the annular solar eclipse that wowed our cousins down-under .
FLEXING his muscles and staring straight at his opponent, this bodybuilding squirrel is the nuts .
A group of otters put on a show of aqua aerobics, as they raise their flippers perfectly in sync .
It's incredible to think anyone could live in such horrendous squalor - yet two men have been prosecuted for keeping their homes in such revolting conditions that it was no longer fit for their animals .
THIS LITTLE squirrel tries to keep himself snug as snow starts to fall around him .
Beautiful turquoise waves rise and fall in a series of stunning images taken along the coastline of south-eastern Australia .
