Pint- size Maci Winters only has one wish this Christmas - to be as tall as the other boys and girls on the school playground. Wearing her leopard print skirt and sparkly pink tights, six year-old Maci's big personality still commands the room- despite the 18-24 months label. The tiny school girl stands at just 99cm tall and weighs less than two stone - the same size as a toddler. Maci, from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, suffers from a rare genetic condition called Russell-Silver Syndrome, a form of primordial dwarfism that affects 1 in 100,000 babies.
STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS- This could be the fearsome scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as a flock of 40,000 starlings bask in the heat of a wonderful British sunset .
PAWS for thought as you feast your eyes on this rare bear bathing session .
From the rolling hills of the Brecon Beacons to the still waters in the Lake District, these photographs capture autumnal landscapes across Great Britain perfectly .
CARRYING a fully grown goat on his back, this five-year-old boy is a child shepherd in the mountains of northern Ethiopia .
An adorable rescue dog who had her eyes gouged out by thugs in Romania has found a loving home in the UK .
A teacher has told how she was attacked by a murderer on her way home from a night out but courageously managed to charm him out of strangling her .
A young orangutan comes over all shy as she hides her face behind a broken bucket .
Sitting all alone on drift ice in the Arctic Ocean, this lonely little fella looks lost .
AN American accountant has grown the world's biggest MELON and smashed his way into the record books with his mammoth 350 .
Say cheese! This cheeky chappy isn’t in the mood to live up to his scary reputation as he is pictured here cracking a killer smile as he goes about his daily business .
A grandmother has told how she has been unable to feel emotion for the last 12 years thanks to heart drugs she had to take in order to survive .
A middle spotted woodpecker swoops into her nest and feeds her young in a forest in Trentino, Italy .