Elephant seals

Elephant seals, so named because of the males’ large proboscis, resembling an elephant’s trunk, are extraordinary animals that can dive to great depths in the oceans and even sleep underwater. There are two species, northern and southern elephant seals, who gather in large colonies during mating season, when the males fight for dominance.

Elephant seals sparring, Monterey Bay, California (Frans Lanting/Robert Harding)

Northern elephant seal young males sparring, Monterey Bay, California (Frans Lanting/Robert Harding)

Northern elephant seal young male elephant seals sleeping at beach (Jeffrey Rich/Okapia/Robert Harding)

Southern elephant seal bull uses  vocalisation and produces steam, Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands, South America (Eleanor Scriven/Robert Harding)

Symbiosis between seal elephant and penguin, Antarctica (Henryk Sadura/Robert Harding)

Southern elephant seal weaner pups, Snow Island, Antarctica, Polar Regions (Michael Nolan/Robert Harding)

Northern elephant seals and California sea lions, Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, California (Frans Lanting/Robert Harding)

See more photos of elephant seals here

Natural sea arches

Sea arches are made by coastal erosion. Some form when waves become focussed on one piece of rock and others are made when waves attack a part of the cliffs that is weaker than the rest, wearing through to form a tunnel and eventually an arch. Here are some of our favourite pictures of natural sea arches around the world.

Famous sea arch, the Azure Window, Gozo, Malta, Mediterranean (Michael Runkel/Robert Harding)

Bluebells

It’s bluebell season and in the UK many woods and fields are carpeted with these bell-like violet flowers.

A Border Collie dog in Bluebells, Ambleside, Cumbria, England (Ashley Cooper/Robert Harding)

Frogs

These slimy amphibians can be found from the tropics to the subarctic regions. While they may not be cuddly, they’re certainly charismatic, and often colourful too. Here are some of our favourite frog images from the archive. 

An Argentinian waxy frog, Wichita, Kansas, United States (National Geographic/Robert Harding)

Snow monkeys

Snow monkeys (also known as Japanese macaques) are a species of monkey from Japan, that live in areas where snow falls each winter. No other primates in the world, apart from humans, live further north.

They are strangely human, bathing in hot springs and sometimes rolling snowballs for fun. They have even been known to develop distinct accents.