These are the fascinating pictures of miniature table sculptures molded around bonsai trees that take up to a painstaking 18 months to create. Japanese illustrator Takanori Aiba, 58, has built the intriguing scale models of windmills, lighthouses and even the Michelin Man.He delicately uses craft paper, plaster, acrylic resin, paint and plastic to create the host of sprawling miniature communities that wrap around the tiny trees.Following his work as an illustrator for Japanese fashion magazine POPYE he has spent the last nine years producing the detailed mini worlds.The creations take at least three months to construct with his Ice Cream Package Tower taking an astonishing 18 months work. Since 2003, he has made eight models, with 10 more planned over the next few years.
Jostling their quills into the noses of some unlucky cubs, this is the moment two feisty porcupines ALMOST defeat a pride of seven lions .
SOARING through the air, a hungry white-tailed kite prepares to snatch a vole from his mother’s claws .
THE THOUGHT OF BECOMING shipwrecked on a remote destination would fill most holidaymakers with dread .
An artist has NAILED IT by creating beautiful and perfectly precise artwork using a hammer and 30,000 nails .
A retired foster carer has spent a whopping £48k on her brood of lifelike dolls .
WENDY Randall, 16, from Kent is now training to be a bodybuilder after recovering from anorexia .
Thousands of people are gathering at a stadium in Johannesburg for a memorial service for Nelson Mandela .
Complete with core, mantle and crust, these incredible planet cakes are truly out of this world .
A diver looks like a minnow as she swims alongside a gigantic whale shark, the largest species of fish on the planet .
With the full moon looming behind him, this polar bear nestles down for the night .
A woman branded the Jolly Green Giant by SOLE-crushing school bullies for her whopping size nine feet has had the last laugh by opening a shoe shop for big footed girls .
A pair of BEAUTIFUL rescue sea turtles spot their catch in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef .