A little brown bear cub shows his doting mum that she is always on parent duty as he uses her as a scratching post. These adorable photographs of two playful bear cubs and their watchful mum were captured by American nature photographer D. Robert Franz, 56, on a visit to Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. 'What we see in these photographs is the interaction between the mother brown bear and her two cubs,' says D. Robert, of Cody, Wyoming.
SWIMMING next to 40 tonne whales, dare-devil divers take the plunge with these gentle giants of the sea .
A Romanian photographer has captured the unique patterns of hundreds of human eyes in a series of striking macro shots .
CARRYING a fully grown goat on his back, this five-year-old boy is a child shepherd in the mountains of northern Ethiopia .
IN THE not so MISTY MOUNTAINS of Wiltshire, there lies an abandoned hobbit house .
FINALLY catching a meal, a pair of great white egrets fight over their dinner .
PERCHED on a branch, these two frogs hold hands as they look into the camera .
STARING intently into the camera, a polar bear appears to be lost in thought while relaxing in the snow .
A little clownfish opens its mouth to reveal a blood sucking intruder living on its tongue .
LINED up one by one on a deer’s back, these little birds give their wings a break as they catch a ride across London .
AT 4,800 metres high and just three metres wide, this is the most dangerous road in the world .
UNDERWATER and above-water seaside shots show the best of British beach-life .