BEAR CUBS AND DOTING MUM

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.

Other great stories
KRYPONITE BEACH

LUMINOUS green rocks could easily be a beach from Superman's homeland of Krypton .

THE DANGEROUS WORK OF SULPHUR MINERS

These are the men with one of the most unpleasant jobs in the world .

HYPNOTIST JAILED FOR SEX ABUSE

A hypnotherapist filmed himself sexually abusing a 19-year-old patient while she was in a trance-like state .

FISH TSUNAMI

A TSUNAMI of predatory fish gather for their annual hunt .

GOLDEN EAGLE FESTIVAL

RACING through the mountain range on horseback, the Kazakh people practice their ancient tradition of hunting with golden eagles .

KUNG-FU LEOPARD CUBS

Pouncing down on top of his twin brother, these two snow leopard cubs practice their kung-fu moves .

INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF AFRICAN TRIBES

A German photographer travelled around Africa where he met and photographed members of tribes in a series of intimate portraits .

OUT-STANDING FIREFIGHTER BREAKS ENDURANCE WORLD RECORD

A US firefighter has battled osteoarthritis and four hip replacements to break the world paddleboarding record .

RIVET-ING ALL WOOD TOWER

WELCOME to what could be the world's tallest TOTALLY wooden construction .

PRAYING MANTIS MAKES AN UNLIKELY FRIEND

A brave praying mantis makes an unusual friend in an Oriental garden lizard .

ABANDONED TEXTILE MILL

HUNDREDS of colour coordinated yarns lie abandoned in this once thriving textile mill .

PELICANS CLASH OVER FOOD

LIFTING their heads high and bumping beaks, these aggressive pelicans clash over fish .