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.
FLOATING effortlessly on his back, this little otter laps up a rare glimmer of English spring sunshine .
SAT ON top of a Brazilian turtle’s head, this little ladybird looks content as he studies his environment from a new height .
MAKING himself at home, this little snail perches happily on top of this frog's head .
SQUABBLING over the last piece of grain, these hungry squirrels are determined to stock up on as much food as possible .
NEVER mind being careful not to choke on your food, this mother bird has a bigger challenge on her hands, as her ravenous offspring impatiently launches its head down into her stomach .
A BUMPER season of births has left zoo with three of the cutest exotic kittens you're likely to see .
These uninvited guests ELEPHANTLY make their annual trip through the reception of this welcoming lodge .
A trout manages to escape the jaws of a hungry cormorant - only to find itself back inside the bird's long beak .
An Italian photographer travelled to the highlands of New Guinea where he met an Indonesian tribe untouched by the modern world .
LUMINOUS green rocks could easily be a beach from Superman's homeland of Krypton .
AN ARRAY of colours, from pinks to blues and oranges, fill the night sky to create an amazing collection of interstellar patterns .
