She is about to start driving and soon will be able to legally buy alcohol and get married, but Poppy Webb-Jones still looks and thinks like a ten-year-old girl. Unlike other 17-year-olds, Poppy is more interested in Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber than wearing make-up, experimenting with boys or staying out late. This is due to a rare condition which means she was born without any hormones, meaning she has never gone through puberty, never had a growth spurt and never thrown a teenage tantrum. To many parents of teenagers, Poppy must sound like the perfect child, but unbeknown to her or her mother Karen Webb-Meek, her condition posed a deadly risk to her health throughout her whole childhood. Poppy was born with a condition called panhypopituitarism meaning she lacks most of the hormones essential for life. Hypopituitarism is the decreased secretion of one or more of the eight hormones normally produced by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. If there is decreased secretion of most pituitary hormones, the term panhypopituitarism (pan meaning "all") is used. Poppy has no growth hormone, meaning her bones stopped growing around the age of 11, and she has no thyroxine, which regulates the metabolism and energy levels. In addition she has no oestrogen, which controls the onset of puberty and the development of secondary sexual characteristics.
Staring death in the face, a little field mouse bravely confronts a hungry cat .
BRAIDED, sculpted and beaded, these are the eye-catching hairstyles worn by the tribal women of Angola .
WITH his spiked ears and yellow and blue body, a colourful monkey bears an uncanny resemblance to Marvel Comics’ Wolverine .
An adorable orangutan named Pongo celebrates his first birthday at Zoo Atlanta, Georgia, America .
OFFERING a glimpse into the past, a mash-up of old and new photographs show how the world’s biggest cities have changed .
A BLIND man was battered with a brick in a sickening attack by two thugs .
A group of otters put on a show of aqua aerobics, as they raise their flippers perfectly in sync .
MESMERIZING night sky photographs offer a spellbinding look at the stars .
A Romanian photographer has captured the unique patterns of hundreds of human eyes in a series of striking macro shots .
FIFTEEEN years after it was closed pictures by a British teacher show the calamity Hong Kong airport that was closed for being too dangerous .
SQUEEZING their furry faces through a hole in a tree, a trio of curious baby squirrels leave their nest for the first time to explore their surroundings .