BEAR CUBS AND DOTING MUM

A little brown bear cub shows his doting mum that she is always on parent duty as he uses her as a scratching post. These adorable photographs of two playful bear cubs and their watchful mum were captured by American nature photographer D. Robert Franz, 56, on a visit to Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. 'What we see in these photographs is the interaction between the mother brown bear and her two cubs,' says D. Robert, of Cody, Wyoming.

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SCULPTURES THAT WILL LEAF YOU SPEECHLESS

GIANT garden sculptures don't beat about the bush .

CHEEKY WHITE TIGER CUB

WITH HIS PAW covering his mouth, this cheeky cub looks amused by something .

OWLS PLAY TUG-OF-WAR

TUGGING on the wing of his sibling, this needy owl is after some attention .

MY 20 YEAR SECRET - IT'S NOT ALOPECIA OR CANCER, I HAVE TRICHOTILLOMANIA

A mum who has hid behind the hair loss condition alopecia for the last 20 years has bravely revealed a secret compulsion to tear out her own hair that has tormented her since she was a child .

CEMETERY FINES

A COUNCIL has come under fire for slapping fines on people’s GRAVESTONES for breaching petty regulations on pot plants .

CHEEKY FROG HITCHES A RIDE ON A SNAIL

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 .

LETHAL BIRTHMARK NEARLY SUFFOCATES GIRL

HOTSPOT MEDIA - LETHAL BIRTHMARK NEARLY SUFFOCATES GIRL: Zoe Mitchell when she was two-weeks-old .

PEEKABOO SQUIRRELS EMERGE FROM THEIR NEST

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 .

STUNNING ENGLISH COASTAL LANDSCAPES

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

PREGOREXIC MUM GIVES BIRTH TO HEALTHY BABY

A mum who weighed just 8st 1lb at eight months pregnant has battled her eating disorder to give birth to a healthy baby girl .

MENINGITIS TOT TAKES FIRST STEPS ON NEW LEGS

A little girl who lost all four limbs to meningitis has taken her first steps since the illness thanks to her new 'Princess legs' .

ADORABLE HARVEST MOUSE CLIMBS DANDELION

Surveying its surroundings, a tiny harvest mouse climbs the stem of a dandelion .