Friday, Jan. 08, 2010

No, really, I can fit your whole head in my mouth. Here, let me show you ... Knut tries to impress his lady friend Giovanna at Berlin's Zoologischer Garten zoo.

A rare hoarfrost clings to the trees at sunset in Knutsfod, England, as a cold wave continues to grip the United Kingdom.

Shoot first, ask about the true nature of reality later: A young monk twirls his toy six-shooter as he listens to the Dalai Lama in Bodh Gaya, India.

Scattered-snow Florrie: Five-year-old Florrie-Anne Forster kicks a soccer ball, along with some snow, in Hay-On-Wye, England.

Dang, just out of reach: When lunch makes a break for it at China's Harbin Tiger Park, the Siberian tigers start leaping, climbing trees, building pyramids.

The chase is on: Naturally, the victor is in no mood to share. (Harbin Tiger Park, Heilongjiang Province.)

Eloping can be nice, too: Andrea Parrish and her fiance Peter Geyer are collecting aluminum cans in Spokane, Wash., to pay for their wedding. So far they've got 18,000. They estimate they need 382,000 more.

Who invited the cow? The Butter family enjoys a high-cholesterol breakfast in this 1,000-pound, lightly salted sculpture at the Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa.

Chariots of Fido: The problem with Rollerblade "dogsledding" is that on downhills, the musher risks overtaking the team. (Michael Miranda and his five pups, Roswell, N.M.)

A lone car races over the dunes in the six stage of the Argentina-Chile Dakar Rally between Antofagasta and Iquique, Chile.

But I just want to play: A cygnet (young swan) defends its territory from a natural enemy - the overly friendly puppy - in Virgina Water, southern England.

I said, NOT TONIGHT! Australian biologists have discovered that female cane toads can inflate themselves like beach balls in order to throw off unwanted males striving to mate with them.

Hypothermia is for weaklings:: As they do every winter, South Korean Special Warfare troops strip off their shirts to work out in the snow during an exercise in Pyeongchang.

Warming the cold-blooded: SeaWorld's Jenny Albert covers a green turtle at the Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Orlando, Fla. An arctic blast forced the rescue of more than two dozen endangered green sea turtles at the Mosquito Lagoon on Merritt Island.

Power lunch? A Golden Eagle looks for critters to eat from a perch atop a utility pole in rural Albany County, Wyo.

Winter's paintbrush: Ice forms odd, flamboyant patterns on the surface of Chicago River in the Windy City.