animal photos

A new photo archive by Vintag.es shows that some of the European colonizers penetrating Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries were riding wild zebras as an alternative to horses. 

The reason behind it is the zebra's resistance to diseases carried by tsetse flies which made their domestication more attractive.  

However, as many European colonizers learned in the early 20th century, despite their similarity to horses, zebras are just a bit too wild to completely tame. 

Unlike horses, which naturally roam around munching on grass, zebras spend their lives cagily watching, evading and fighting savannah predators such as lions, cheetahs and crocodiles. Natural selection has bred zebras to be nervous, flighty and brutally aggressive if cornered. 

But taming individual zebras to perform horse-like duties has occasionally been successful. Lord Walter Rothschild, for instance, trained a team of zebras to pull a carriage, which he drove past Buckingham Palace to demonstrate their supposedly pliable nature.

Kids and animals are a double dose of cuteness. 

Photographer Andrea Martin celebrates the joy that comes from these duos in her sweet photos featuring a small kid and a baby animal, cuddling in a rural setting. 

As the mom of four children, Martin understands the magic and knows how to embrace their mutual playfulness as well as when to hit the shutter in exactly the right moment.   

Childhood television programs have popularized the theory of frienemy with Tom & Jerry and Tweety Bird and Sylvester of Looney Tunes. 

We have learned It is a game of domination on the hierarchy of animals, not of friendship.

But the animals proved us wrong. 

As you can see from the following images, animals do help other types of animals as well as their own. 

They reach others when they need it, without any prey, predators, companions, or enemies' roles. 

Turns out, love knows no bounds in the animal world as well.

Sshhhh...Don't wake up these tiny little angels. 

Some of them are even sleeping with their mouth slightly open and we just can't look at these photos without releasing a big "Awww". 

Good night, cute little creatures.  

Shaaz Jung is an Indian wildlife photographer and Cinematographer who specializes in capturing the great moments of big cats. 

In the following photo series, he provides us with a fascinating glimpse into the life of one beautiful black panther in the jungles of Kabini.  

Contrary to what the internet might have you believe, taking pictures of cats is not a new obsession. 

Since the dawn of photography, people with cameras have been aiming them at their pets who, though not always the most willing subjects, are usually most adorable.

Taking a trip through the archives proves that our collective love affair with cats goes way back and that those cuddling little creatures were as cute than as they are today. 

It's time for our weekly compilation of amazing, fascinating and sometimes funny animal pictures. 

So clear the way for these nothing but awesome pics presenting nature at its full glory. 

For some more, check out our last week's collection. 

Let's talk about cows for a moment. 

They're big, beautiful and outstanding in their field :)

And every year, on July 7th, the world celebrates their special appreciation day. 

Cow Appreciation Day is a day that has been designed to raise awareness about cows and appreciate everything that they do for us, humans.  

So, we thought to scroll down some adorable cat photos from the dedicated twitter page is a great way to celebrate all this cow goodness.   

You'll have to admit it, life in the animal kingdom is full of hard decisions — from whether to chase that ball to who or what to eat for dinner. Those are some tough choices, OK?

These guys are deep in thoughts.  

Now, please, if you'll just leave them be.

Get ready for some amazing photos from the animal kingdom. 

They are pure, wholesome, beautiful, and touching at the same time. 

And they are sure worth your time.  

You either like them or you hate them, but spiders are some of the most unique and fascinating creatures on the planet. 

Other than the oceans, you can find them almost anywhere on the planet and some of them are quite amazing as far as their unique colors. 

Let's take a look at a few of these colorful - and yes, creepy - creatures.

We all love those playground swings. 

That feeling of trusting your legs in the air to get that extra little bit of height was almost like flying. 

But it turns out, us humans are not the only ones who seem to love it as you can see by these charming photos of different animals having some playground fun…

Photographer duo, Kelly Pratt Kreidich and Ian Kreidich, have been specializing for years in photographing professional dancers. 

Then, a few years ago, they hit upon a new idea and started photographing the same dancers but this time, with their loving dogs. 

100 dogs and dancers later, their new photo series "Dancers & Dogs" is a full-length art book, available now for your viewing pleasure.

On their home page, the talented duo wrote: "One day, I (Kelly) had a strange idea: "What if we did pictures of dancers, with dogs." Ian looked at me like I was crazy. On paper, it was strange and didn't make sense. Why dancers and dogs? But I told Ian to just "Go with it." I had a vision. Our first duo was Ericka and Baxter, an English Bulldog, who belongs to a friend. We captured just the results we were hoping for – clean and elegant pictures, that are sweet, light-hearted and funny. Ballet is often seen as stuffy or unapproachable, and we feel like this project helps people see the lighter side of dancers. We have learned a lot during this process. We were not animal photographers when we started out! But along the way we have learned how to work on a dog's level, how to get dogs to do certain actions, what kind of dogs are even right for this project".

For more: Instagram / Facebook

'Mud, Mud, glorious mud Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood'...well, it seems some animals have been listening to that song. 

June 29th is international mud day (Yes, there's even a day for that) and it's a great opportunity to enjoy some animals having fun while splashing in mud cause you know what they say- Muddy animals are happy animals.    

So what are you waiting for? let's get dirty!

It's a general rule in life that if you want to make anything better, then just add cats. Tying the knot is no exception as these photos of cats at weddings will now prove. 

All these photos capture moments that would have just been your bog-standard, run-of-the-mill special moment if it wasn't for those kitties.