SPECTACLED BEAR IS CHRISTMAS STAR ON ZOO’S TREE

Most people have an angel at the top of their Christmas tree, but one bear at Chester Zoo decided he wanted to be the star of the show. Climbing right to the top of the tree, the zoo’s spectacled bear Bernardo can often be seen relaxing with his head in the clouds. Four-year-old Bernardo moved to the zoo after travelling from Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma. Tim Rowlands, the zoo’s curator of mammals said: “An exchange of animals between the USA and Europe doesn’t happen very often at all, which makes Bernardo even more special to us here at the zoo.

Other great stories
PLAYFUL OWL PLAYS HIDE AND SEEK

A cheeky owl fancies a game of hide and seek as it peeps out from behind a tree .

RECORD BREAKING WATERMELON

AN American accountant has grown the world's biggest MELON and smashed his way into the record books with his mammoth 350 .

SLEEP PARALYSIS DREAMS TURNED REALITY

SITTING on a burning sofa unable to move, one man turns his terrifying dreams into reality .

KALEIDOSCOPIC CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES

THESE kaleidoscopic-like photographs capture England’s churches and cathedrals in all their glory .

FRIENDLY TOAD READY FOR HIS CLOSE UP

STARING eagerly into the camera, this little toad is full of curiosity .

RARE BRONTE POEM FETCHES £92K AT AUCTION

A rare manuscript of one of Charlotte Bronte’s earliest poems went under the hammer today and fetched nearly £100,000 – double what it was expected to get .

STUNNING ENGLISH COASTAL LANDSCAPES

WITH STUNNING colours and serene scenes, these photographs capture the otherworldly beauty of the English coast .

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 .

BEAR AND FOX IN SHOWDOWN

This is the moment a nimble red fox and a lumbering Alaskan brown bear were locked in a tense stand-off .

LAST MILITARY HOSPITAL TIME CAPSULE

INSIDE Britain's last Naval hospital where scurvy was cured looks like an NHS time capsule .

ADORABLE CHRISTMAS BABIES

WEARING tiny Christmas accessories, these adorable babies get into the spirit of the season .

PORCUPINES COME CLOSE TO VICTORY AGAINST PRIDE OF HUNGRY LIONS

Jostling their quills into the noses of some unlucky cubs, this is the moment two feisty porcupines ALMOST defeat a pride of seven lions .