PERCHED on a branch, this Little Owl plays third wheel to two love birds. Clearly not bothered by their uncomfortable onlooker, the owls pucker up and put on a very public display of affection. This trio of Little Owls were photographed by Uzbek photographer Ilia Shalamaev, 36, after he spotted the scene on a trip to the town of Kiryat Gat, Israel. “Here you can see a family of owls playing and having fun on a branch, not far from their nesting place,” says Ilia, now of Beit Hashmonay, Israel.
A DETERMINED great blue heron holds on tightly to its prey as the furry gopher attempts to wriggle free .
Staring death in the face, a little field mouse bravely confronts a hungry cat .
A hypnotherapist filmed himself sexually abusing a 19-year-old patient while she was in a trance-like state .
With an abandoned tricycle sitting in an empty corridor, this derelict but once grand mansion could be the setting for The Shining .
THIS is the fascinating abandoned house, complete with mystery portraits and homely items, that has been dubbed - crooked cottage .
While often referred to as the kings of the jungle, gorillas - for all their might - are notorious hydrophobes .
A photographer from the United Arab Emirates travelled to Pakistan where he captured the lives of local people in a series of expressive portraits .
CARRYING a fully grown goat on his back, this five-year-old boy is a child shepherd in the mountains of northern Ethiopia .
A small Indian monkey is seemingly gob-smacked after reading the latest stock market news .
A lazy tree frog, tired of hopping along a branch, chooses the slowest form of transport when it jumps on top of an unsuspecting snail .
SWIMMING in unison, millions of silverside fish dwarf the divers .
STRIKING photos capture nature at its most raw and powerful during Earth’s most electrifying event .