Underwater Creatures inhabiting the White Sea

Various Creatures Photos

All Creatures Great And Small

All creatures great and small: Heart-warming collection of snaps showcases Britain's wildlife at its best from a jackdaw whispering in a deer's ear to a piglet sheltering from the rain under an umbrella

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These stunning pictures depict the best of Britain's wondrous wildlife - from a wide-eyed piglet hiding under an umbrella to escape the rain to a hedgehog in a pile of autumn leaves making preparations for the winter.

A striking photograph of a fluffy yellow ducking nuzzling up to a baby goat is sure to melt even the hardest of hearts melt while the sight of thousands of starlings soaring over Somerset is simply breathtaking.

The images have all been taken by photographer Richard Austin and feature in his 2013 calendar Animal Magic.

Richard has been snapping animals professionally for more than a quarter of century and his photographs have appeared on the front pages of every UK national newspaper.

His love of animals and wildlife photography has received international recognition having previously been published in calendars in the USA and Canada.

His photographs of animals resulted in his own six part TV series called ‘Richard Austin’s Animal Magic’ which went on to win the Royal Television Society’s Regional family entertainment programme of the year in 2007. He has also published five books under the titles of ‘Richard Austin’s Animal Magic.’

This beautiful image captures the moment a piglet sensibly takes shelter under a brightly-coloured umbrella to escape a downpour

10 Bizarre Creatures of the Amazon Rainforest

The fast-disappearing Amazon rainforest harbors some amazing creatures. Most of us have heard of vampire bats, piranhas and the anaconda, but among the forest’s inhabitants are weird and wonderful animals just as bizarre as the more famous ones, if not more so. Here are 10 of the most bizarre Amazon rainforest animals you’ve likely never heard of.

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Kinkajou

This relative of the raccoon has golden fur and a tail that can grip branches. Also called the honey bear, it lives in trees and mainly eats fruit. It uses its five inch-long tongue to grasp hanging fruit and also to lick nectar from flowers.

Amazing Sea Creatures

Strange Creatures

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10 World's Biggest Creatures

Growth is the law of nature and every living being evolves physically to a certain extant, but sometimes the natural growth process is hampered by genetic abnormalities, resulting in hyper or under growth. Today I have brought to you 10 such living beings who faced this abnormality and grew beyond normal limits. You will be surprised to see these different creatures with their huge built and entering in Guinness Book of Records.

Some of the Weirdest Looking Creatures on the Verge of Extinction

Some of the Weirdest Looking Creatures on the Verge of Extinction

Based on recent estimates there are approximately 30-50 million species on Earth… These are some of the weirdest looking creatures on the planet – and the most threatened.

They may not win any beauty contests anytime soon, but the weird wonders of the animal world are infinitely more interesting than any mundane and adorable little creature.

For five years the Zoological Society of London’s Edge of Existence programme has scoured the world to find nature’s rarest beasts. They are given a rating based on their uniqueness and how close they are to extinction.

Sadly, China’s Yangtze River dolphin — top of Edge’s danger list five years ago — is now believed to be extinct, so all the animals on this page are in peril too.

From the dark depths of the sea to the treetops of Madagascar, these are just a few strange animals that are quite a sight to behold and it’s entirely our fault.

Aye-Aye

Few mammals are as weird looking as the endangered Aye-Aye, a lemur found only on the island of Madagascar, but – surprise! It’s actually a close relative of humans. With big protruding eyes, super-skinny fingers and a huge bushy tail, Aye-Ayes are pretty unique. Their bat-like ears allow them to detect insect larvae squirming inside trees, and they’ve also got a sweet tooth for coconut and sugar cane, which gets them in trouble with farmers.

Viperfish

The depths of the ocean are literally swimming with creatures straight out of your weirdest nightmares, and the Viper Fish is among the scariest. This grotesque-looking creature has teeth so large, they don’t fit in its mouth. It swims at high speed toward its victims and impales them upon its sharp teeth

Longeared Jeboa

Shaped somewhat like a tiny kangaroo, the nocturnal mouse-like Long-eared Jerboa uses its elongated tail and hind legs for jumping. The endangered rodent, found in the Gobi desert of Mongolia, has ears that are about a third larger than its head and eats mostly insects. It’s so extraordinary that it’s the only species of its genus, and believed to be close to qualifying as an endangered species.

Rare pygmy sloth

Found only on an island off Panama in Central America.

Asian or Malayan tapir

Suffering mainly because of the loss of its forest habitat.

Horror Frog

It’s called a ‘horror frog’, but this amphibian isn’t the star of a b-movie. It’s so named because of its ability to actively break its own bones to produce claws. Hairy and bizarre, the horror frog – also nicknamed the wolverine frog, after the comic book character – can break its bones so that they puncture its toe pads, producing extendable claws on demand when threatened. This Cameroon native, which is often roasted and eaten, was discovered in 2008.

Blobfish

When you pull up your fishing net to inspect its contents, the last thing you want to see is a gelatinous mass of pale flesh peering up at you with dull bluish eyes. But, fear not – catching a blobfish is extremely rare. These bizarre fish live in the depths off the coasts of Tasmania and Australia. They don’t have any muscles, but since have a lower density than the water, so they just sort of float around.

Naked Mole Rat

Its wrinkled pink skin, piggish nose and protruding teeth don’t exactly make the naked mole rat the cutest animal around. Colonies of these hairless rodents live in underground “palaces” led by one dominant rat – the queen, which is the only female to breed and bear young. As with bees, naked mole rats have roles in the colony, including workers that dig the tunnels and gather food. Most naked mole rats are found in the sandy deserts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Pignose frog

The sole member of an ancient family, 50 to 100 million years old, it hunkered deep underground while the dramatic environmental and physical changes sweeping the earth wiped out whole groups of animals and saw new ones evolve. This dinosaur among frogs was only discovered in 2003, and it is unclear how many actually exist in the wild, but it is incredibly endangered.

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