Best Nature Shadow of a Downy Oak Flies can be beautiful, too A beautiful butterfly taking a break Playful Coatis A pair of Marine Iguanas posing for their wedding photo Ritsurin-koen is one of Japan's premier gardens The Hummingbird Hawk-moth behaves just like a hummingbird does The famous Blue Pond A small group of trees caught my eye... Late summer in the forest Jackals relaxing in the morning sun A friendly European Ground Squirrel Pelicans and Cormorants in morning light A curious Thomas' Langur This Orang Utan mom kept watching us with mistrust New Zealand Fur Seal Baby Thistle Red-bellied Black Snake Tree Top A deeply relaxed Kangaroo The Black Skink isn't the prettiest of lizards Curious Flying Foxes A Seal taking a bath in the sun Ice structures on Diamond Beach The size of this Moth is merely half an inch or so A small artificial pond, created to attract birds, obviously held some attraction for this Lizard, too A Hyena enjoying the shade at Leipzig Zoo This is called a 'Turkey Orchid' Spider Monkey jumping from tree to tree A Spider Monkey lost in thought At the Santa Elena Sloth Rescue Center, more than 20 of these animals wait for a recovery that will hopefully see them returning into the wild Possibly our most spectacular encounter ever, this Puma sat down for a rest right on our trail in Corcovado National Park A Green Iguana posing as a tree flower A Howler Monkey with her baby in Corcovado National Park For the longest time, we mistook this Emerald Basilisk for a leaf. Easy to see why. This Cayman was watching our boat while touring Caño Negro Nature Reserve, near Costa Rica's northern border These Tent-making Bats get their name from cutting up and folding, tent-like, large plant leaves Coatis are cute furry animals that roam much of Costa Rica A wide-angle lens can make a beech forest look spectacular This beauty posed for us at the Armand Bayou Nature center, on the outskirts of Houston, TX This Chipmunk liked the Cactus blossoms at the Arizona Sonoma Desert Museum Colorful Cactus blossoms at the Arizona Sonoma Desert Museum This scene unfolded at the River Bend Nature Center in Wichita Falls, TX Upon careful reflection, this Red Squirrel decided its nut was much more relevant than I was A Lynx was watching me carefully at a wildlife center just south of Berlin Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve is home to a large herd of Zebras A Springbok mother feeding her offspring An annual Gnu family gathering at the Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve Seriously, this guy is officially called a 'CMR Bean Beetle' A Baby Giraffe at one of South Africa's private game reserves A Baboon lost in thought near the Cape of Good Hope This male lion was sound asleep at Kruger National Park when the sound of an ultralight plane up in the air woke him For a moment, I mistook this Kudu for a statue when driving past it. It did not move at all. This species has its name for a reason: 'Elegant Grasshopper' A Brown Bear whiling away time at a German animal resort New Zealand's prime export article Kaikoura is the prime Dolphin spotting location on New Zealand's southern island Fortunately, a long lens allowed me to stay far away from this Baby Seal cuddling with its mother A Tasmanian Devil trying to make sense of its name Ok, NOW I understand how Koalas got that reputation of being cute How did Koalas get a reputation of being cute? Kangaroos on their annual family outing near Castlemaine in Victoria state We followed this tiger on an open jeep in Nepal's Bardia National Park when we finally saw it 'eye to eye' A Rhesus Macaque watching the action at Pashupatinath, Kathmandu's cremation grounds On a boat tour in Nepal's Bardia National Park, we spotted this Jackal from afar A Bumblebee at a Japanese garden near Berlin These crabs were about to start a good fight in Ecuador's Parque National Machalilla Bumblebee on a flower Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve is a huge and beautiful lake area in eastern Ecuador An Iguana taking a sunbath A butterfly trying to scare away enemies with its large 'eyes' An unusually large bee spotted in southern Colombia A gorgeous butterfly on an equally gorgeous Heliconia A simple scene in the midst of a deep Costa Rican forest Heliconias are beautiful flowers. This one is a little buggy. This Frog was just waking up A Howler Monkey Toddler at an animal refuge Costa Ricans call this lizard 'Jesu Christo' - because it can walk on water A Caterpillar hanging down from a tree near Puerto Viejo, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica Spotted these Sea Lions on a boat tour near Puerto Natales Guanacos are much smaller than Llamas - and even cuter Pet or food? Let's hope this curious puppy, shot on the streets of Shanghai, was the former. Sometimes, like with this fawn in Olympic National Park, you get the best shots from your car window A Balloon Fish shot at Maui Aquarium, Hawaii A fern leaf still rolled up early in the morning Technically, this would be categorized as a moth. A beautiful one, though! A butterfly gathering in Peru This little White-faced Capuchin Monkey was getting quite excited, but mom calmed him down Costa Rica's national symbol, the Red-eyed-Leaf-Frog, shot with the help of a dim flashlight Most orchids are tiny, so the first thing we received at this orchid garden in Costa Rica was a loupe Our second day ever in Costa Rica, and this lizard shows up right outside of our lodge room This fellow, at the Costa Rican police station right at the Nicaraguan border, thought he was a guard dog An extraordinary species of butterfly spotted in Costa Rica Blue Jeans Frogs are tiny but poisonous. This one lived near the Nicaraguan border of Costa Rica. This Chipmunk showed us the beauty of Glaciers National Park in Montana A baby Spider Monkey at an animal refuge on Yucatan Peninsula This Alaskan Red Fox was so curious that it came closer and closer...