Rare Animal Pictures

A Northern Rockhopper penguin shows off its impressive facial hair at a zoo in Munich.

A three-toed sloth joins 34 of its friends crawling across the jungle having been rescued from captivity in Surinam.

A rare baby Japanese Bigfin Reef Squid is pictured at the Sealife Centre, Weymouth, UK.

The Long Journey North by Danny Green

 

A Great Grey Owl in Finland

Walrus colony in Svalbard, Norway

King Eidur Duck in Norway

Global warming

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E), a high-resolution passive microwave Instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite shows the state of Arctic sea ice on September 10 in this image released on September 16, 2008. Arctic sea ice melted to its second-lowest level in summer, rising a bit from 2007's record but still showing a strong downward trend that is a key symptom of climate change, U.S. scientists said. The ice slipped to its minimum extent for 2008 on September 12, when it covered 1.74 million square miles (4.52 square km), and now appears to be growing as the Arctic starts its seasonal cool-down, the National Snow and Ice Data Center said.

An iceberg floats near a harbour in the town of Kulusuk, east Greenland, August 1, 2009.

NASA handout image shows how satellite data reveals how the new record low Arctic sea ice extent, from September 16, 2012, compares to the average minimum extent over the past 30 years (in yellow). Sea ice extent maps are derived from data captured by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer aboard NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager on multiple satellites from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.
 

Nature

The volcanic islands are spread over both sides of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, and they are home to some truly unique and staggeringly beautiful species of birds and animals. They played a key role in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and a lot of the animals have evolved specifically to the climate and temperament of the island they are living on.Take a look at our favourite photos..

The red-billed tropicbird isn't endemic to the islands, but it is one of the more beautiful sea birds around. One of the most fascinating contrasts is watching it on land when, like other seabirds, it looks at its most clumsy. It almost crawls on its belly using its wing. But in the air, it is the picture of elegance.

Isabela was named after the Queen of Spain, and is the largest island in the Galapagos. It's also one of the youngest, formed a million years ago from six volcanos. Five of these volcanos are still active, which makes this one of the most volcanic places on Earth.
 
Kicker rock, also called the sleeping lion for its resemblance to, er, a sleeping lion, is especially beautiful at sunrise and sunset. During the day, the clear waters reveal spectacular marine life.


 Pictured is a boat of tourists watching blue-footed boobies dive for fish.






Darwin Lake is a small salt water lagoon near Tagus Cove, and was thought to have been formed by a tidal wave when a volcano erupted. It is fascinating in that it is above sea level and is twice as salty as sea water.