PLAYFUL MANATEE

A manatee makes the most of his underwater guests by rolling onto his back for a belly rub. The manatee appears apprehensive at first, but he soon cosies up to the divers. The photographs were taken by marine biologist Andrew Pearson in Crystal River, Florida at the Crystal River Wildlife Refuge. The 32 year old photographer, of Southampton, says: ‘We spent several days snorkelling with wild manatees.

Other great stories
ABANDONED HOBBIT HOUSE

IN THE not so MISTY MOUNTAINS of Wiltshire, there lies an abandoned hobbit house .

BIRD ATTACK

A pair of bank myna birds fight it out in front of their ladies .

ABANDONED CARE HOME LIES FORGOTTEN

BEHIND the doors of this building, with its stacks of mattresses and discarded remains of wheelchairs, lies another victim of austerity cuts .

FIGHTING BABOONS

THEIR gnarling teeth at the ready, these two baboons fight it out for the last piece of fruit .

HUMAN CCTV COP BUSTS 130 CRIMINALS

Meet the human CCTV: a PCSO with a memory for faces so sharp he has apprehended more than 130 suspects in the last year alone with his eagle eyed talents .

VIBRANT WOODPECKER FEEDS HER YOUNG

A middle spotted woodpecker swoops into her nest and feeds her young in a forest in Trentino, Italy .

RED SMOKE AT NIGHT, VOLCANO SPOTTERS DELIGHT

With the vivid red smoke billowing into the sky amid the misty sand dunes, these are the blissful views provided at the break of dawn at a volcano .

AERIALS OF FLOODING ON SOMERSET LEVELS

Sam Notaro built his own flood defences to protect his four-bedroom home in Moorland, Somerset Flooding is likely to get worse around Somerset as groundwater levels continue to rise .

FROZEN IN TIME LIGHTHOUSE

This frozen lighthouse in Michigan could easily be mistaken for a still from the snow swept disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow .

UNUSUAL ANIMAL FRIENDSHIP

SAT ON top of a Brazilian turtle’s head, this little ladybird looks content as he studies his environment from a new height .

ADORABLE NEWBORN SEALS PLAY IN SNOW

WITH THEIR adorable big round eyes and fluffy white fur, these baby seals are cute enough to melt any heart .

MOST DANGEROUS ROAD IN THE WORLD

AT 4,800 metres high and just three metres wide, this is the most dangerous road in the world .