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Rare animals are... well, rare to come by. And this golden penguin is no exception! One wildlife photographer, Yves Adams, has won nature's lottery by being the first to spot and capture a never-before-seen yellow penguin. The penguin is a King penguin, potentially the very first of its kind. 

Yves Adams believes that the yellow penguin spotted on an island in South Georgia is leucistic. Leucism is a condition that results in the partial loss of pigmentation. Whereas albinism is the absence of melanin, leucism is only partial, which can make the animal have white or patchy colored skin, feathers, or hair. 

In an interview with the Independent, Yves Adams had this to say about the rare and unique moment he first spotted the yellow penguin, "I'd never seen or heard of a yellow penguin before. There were 120,000 birds on that beach, and this was the only yellow one there. They all looked normal except for this one. It really was something else. It was an incredibly unique experience. One of the birds looked really strange, and when I looked closer it was yellow. We all went crazy when we realized. We dropped all the safety equipment and grabbed our cameras."

Adams continued, "We were so lucky the bird landed right where we were. Our view wasn't blocked by a sea of massive animals. Normally it's almost impossible to move on this beach because of them all. It was heaven that he landed by us. If it had been 50 metres away, we wouldn't have been able to get this show of a lifetime."

This isn't the first time we've seen rare golden animals out in the wild, but it is the very first golden penguin! 

Is it too late to become a wildlife photographer? If the end result is to be surrounded with adorable animals and maybe even one day have a cute baby animal so curious about who you are that they simply wander up to you and become your new best friend. Who in the world wouldn't love that experience?

Ah yes, life as a wild photographer is looking quite grand indeed. You can tell from the look of pure happiness on the photographer's faces as they get real up-close and personal with some of their adorable subjects! We can't blame them for that though, we believe if it had been us in their place, there might be some crying due to pure joy. 

But those who got a bit too close to that bear had the right idea of fleeing! 

Meet the extraordinary photographer -- Andrea Martin! An award-winning children and family photographer in West Virginia. 

Her photographs below show such a tenderness between the children and animals, it's truly magical and looking at a real-life Disney movie moment. The ethereal lighting and happy expressions on the children's faces are all so endearing -- each photograph here is truly a beautiful moment preserved in time. 

Check out the stunning imagery below. 

Meet the fantastic Geert Weggen! Photographer extraordinaire from both Sweden and the Netherlands, and might be an actual squirrel-whisperer. With more 60,000 followers on his Instagram page, Weggen has been focused on red squirrels for the last several years and managed to become best friends with the critters. 

These photos are so remarkably whimsical! We feel as if we've been transported to another world that's just pure delight!

Off the coast of Australia, near Lady Elliot Island, the world's only known pink manta ray has once again been spotted! 

Nicknamed "Inspector Clouseau," after the the main character of the classic "The Pink Panther," was photographed by Kristian Laine. 

According to Laine, she was original confused when seeing the pink manta, believing the ray's vibrant hue was due to a camera malfunction. Laine told Australian Geographic, "I was in the middle of a manta train with seven other mantas. I was looking through my viewfinder and was thinking it's weird that one of the mantas looks pink. I actually thought my strobes were playing up, making the manta look pink."

When she returned to land, Laine discovered that the sighting was authentic, and later took to Instagram to share photos of the "amazing and absolutely unforgettable encounter."

The last, and first, time the rare manta ray was spotted was in 2015, by diving instructor Ryan Jeffery off Lady Elliot Island (once again). 

The pink coloring on this manta ray remains a mystery. Project Manta's Asia Armstrong said, "The working theory is that it is just a different and very unique expression of the melanin, but that is still to be confirmed."

Freelance photographer Kieran Murray rounded up his photos for the past 4 years and decided to add toy Godzilla into them to make it seem like they are exploring the world together. Why? Because he was bored : "I travel with a 6-inch plastic figurine that I Photoshop to look Godzilla Sized. His name is Ryan and we get into all sorts of Shenanigans together." For more, check out his Instagram page.

H/t:DesignYouTrust

Meet photographer extraordinaire, Mr Perou! 

Perou spent months working with The Big Cat Sanctuary in the UK, where he photographed big cats in hope to raise awareness about the animals at the sanctuary and their endangered wild cousins.

Perou created a 'lion's den,' using Siros lights and photographed the animals as he would rock stars, fashion models or actos.

The result? Simply eye-stopping and STUNNING.  You can follow his work on Instagram as well.

Prepare to be enchanted! 

Every year, The Kennel Club has a competition for best 'Dog Photographer of the Year'. and the photographs this year are more stunning and more heartfelt than ever! 

Shared below are the winners of multiple categories! 

Story via The Insider

You might recall from a few weeks ago, the story we covered of the pregnant two-year-old Dachshund named Sugar. Sugar had a gorgeous maternity shoot that was captured by the talented Laura Shockley.

Well, as one would hopefully expect with any pregnancy... the puppies have arrived! And they're so deliciously cute, we want to gobble up all those mini-sugar pups! 

And to celebrate the occasion, Laura Shockley once again photographed the new family and just a warning, there will be definite squeals -- out loud and in your heart. 

Prepare yourself for some serious cuteness!

The finalists of the 2019 AGORA Awards have been selected, after 130,000 submissions! And they are all spectacular! The winner will be announced November 6th, and win the title of 'world's greatest photo' along with a whooping $25,000!

Any while all the selections are breathtaking, we've simply only collected the animal pics. For the complete selection, head over to the AGORA Awards site. 

Via AGORA Images

You've probably never heard of him, but you've almost definitely seen his photographs. I'm talking about Walter Chandoha, the American photographer, cat dad and husband, who photographed cats for most of his life and was the virtually the pioneer of cat photography. Here is his story. 

Photographer Alexandra Bochkareva likes to explore the eye-catching beauty of red hair. In order to do so, she often pairs her redheaded muses with ginger animals, ranging from a rescued lynx to majestic Maine Coon cats. Each duo in these fairytale photographs has been personally paired by Bochkareva, who strives for matches that are "very similar, both in an external and internal way." Check out her Instagram page. 

What could be better than someone taking care of your beloved cat while you're away? Getting professional photos of your beloved cat! When Miranda McDonald asked her friend Josell Mariano to take care of her blue tabby cat Jade, he went above and beyond with an impromptu photo shoot of the beautiful Jade! 

According to Best Ten News, Mariano explained how he captured the magic below, "I used a 6Dmk2 with an f/2.8 24-70LII, and an f/1.4 50mm. Lighting is an Einstein strobe with a 24-inch beauty dish." But it also helps when your model is so darn photogenic! Mariano said, "Jade was a better model than I thought but was still super wiggly. She was distracted by treats and her favorite toy (which is a broken string on a stick)."

Sounds like the perfect cat sitter to us! These are almost as good as kitten memes, but nah, nothing beats those.

This photo was recently posted by Saurabh Desai, a wildlife photographer. It was captured in the Spiti Valley of Northern India and once posted, it confused many internet users. At first glance, it appears to be a simple landscape shot but Desai was actually snapped a snow leopard in this photo, a big cat whose perfectly camouflaged coat makes him blend into his landscape to a breathtaking degree. Can you spot him? Via: Paws Planet

Japanese Photographer, Nyankichi Rojiupa, doesn't have any cats of his own, but he is fascinated by these enigmatic creatures. So when he stumbled upon a group of strays in the city, he decided to stick around ,watch and take amazing photos. Check out his instagram page for more.    

During a trip to Kenya, Will Burrard-Lucas (@willbl) captured several photos of a wild melanistic black leopard, also known as a black panther. The images are believed to be the first of their kind taken in Africa in 100 years.