Pinning a purple flower into her bleach blonde hair, pretty Ava admired herself in the mirror. She had every reason to be proud. In the space of a year, she had lost an incredible 17 stone. Her weight dropped from 37st 1lbs to 19st 7lbs, and she slipped into a dress before gazing at her newly svelte figure. With her smokey eye makeup and black skater dress, she could have been glamming up for a night on the tiles with her girlfriends. Instead, it was Halloween, 2013, and Ava was hiding a huge secret. Born a boy named William, it was the first time she had ever dressed as a girl – and everything fell into place.
An adorable orangutan named Pongo celebrates his first birthday at Zoo Atlanta, Georgia, America .
ALL IS not as it seems in these deceptive cityscapes .
CAMPED out in the middle of a forest, these unusual hut hotels take you back to basics .
FLYING through the air, these delighted pooches pull their best poses mid-flight .
This frozen lighthouse in Michigan could easily be mistaken for a still from the snow swept disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow .
Exploding out of the water, a great white shark performs a backflip during a hunt for seals .
WEARING tiny Christmas accessories, these adorable babies get into the spirit of the season .
STAIRWAY obsessed photographers have captured psychedelic shots that will mesmerise you .
BOXING DAY has come early for this pair of feisty squirrels, as their Christmas party quickly turns sour .
INSIDE Britain's last Naval hospital where scurvy was cured looks like an NHS time capsule .
The aurora lights captured in Blair Nebraska, America - WITH electrifying purple and illuminous green brightening up the night sky, this is the rare moment a flash of 'sprite' lightening was captured on camera .
A Romanian photographer has captured the unique patterns of hundreds of human eyes in a series of striking macro shots .