A male peacock struts his stuff with feathers fanned out. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
An elephant stands alone at dusk at the Masai Mara game reserve, popular safari destination in Kenya. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Big-eye jacks swim in a huge school with thousands of fish near Cocos Island, an isolated ocean oasis 300 miles off the Pacific coast. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Nazca boobies groom each other on Espanola, an uninhabited southern island within the Galapagos Island chain. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A Galapagos giant tortoise eats at the Charles Darwin Research Station on the Galapagos Islands. These captive tortoises are part of a breeding program that has already released hundreds of juveniles in their native islands. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A herd of guanacos, which are closely related to the llama, inhabit the pristine landscape in southern Chile. Ecophilanthropist Kristine Tompkins is heading and funding a project to create Patagonia National Park to save the land and the creatures that live there. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Bella, a stray dog who was found at The Elephant Sanctuary home in Hohenwald, Tenn., has become best friends with Tarra the elephant. They follow each other everywhere and sleep together in the sanctuary. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A sea lion pup poses for the camera, unafraid of the tourists who have just landed on her beach on Santa Fe island within the Galapagos Island chain. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A stork roams the open plains of the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A frog at a pond in Sherborn, Mass. Frogs all over the world have been mysteriously dying in recent years. Scientist see them as similar to a canary in a coal mine in terms of indicating the health of the planet. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Dogs of all shapes and sizes wait patiently at the Escuelita Condesa, a doggie school and daycare in Parque Mexico in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A game reserve staff member at the Meletse Game Reserve, a private park in South Africa, holds the paw of a sedated lion as she has surgery to insert a transmitter into her abdomen. More than 200,000 game are relocated each year in South Africa as a result of the prevalent commercial game farming. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Pigs inhabit individual stalls where they can only stand up or lie down at a high tech pig farm in Zaraysk, Russia. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Madonna is one of three South China tigers living at the Laohu Valley reserve as part of the breeding program and school that teaches endangered cats how to hunt. Only around 60 tigers of this type are left in the world. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
At Sea Turtle, Inc., on South Padres Island, Texas, injured green sea turtles swim in a rehabilitation tank. The agency rescues injured turtles and educates the public about these endangered creatures. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A bat hangs from the roof of a concession stand inside Kruger National Park in South Africa. Kruger is one of the largest and most successful conservation areas in the world, drawing over 1 million visitors in a year. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A Sally Lightfoot crab scrambles over volcanic rocks on Espanola Island, part of the Galapagos Island chain. These crabs are common along the western coast of South Africa. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Manatee in the clear waters of Three Sisters Springs in the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge in Crystal River, Florida. The endangered West Indian manatee lives in the coastal and inland waters of Florida and migrates to the warm springs of Crystal River. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
One of three horses residing on Pobiz Farm in New Hampshire which is owned by poet Maxine Kumin. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Two young cheetahs groom each other at the Ann Van Dyk Cheetah Center, a nonprofit cheetah rehabilitation and breeding program in South Africa. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A camel at sunset in the desert near Jahra, Kuwait. Bedouin in this area hire shepherds from Bangladesh or India to tend their camels and sheep. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-day-06-17
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Nelson-Mandela-His-life-and-legacy
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Turkey-s-discontent
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Duchess-Kate-s-royal-baby-bump
/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-Day-06-16
/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-Day-0615
/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-day-06-14
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Ireland-forever-images-of-the-emerald-isle
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Weather-extremes-2013
/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-day-06-13
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Children-s-labors
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Wildfires-2013