Here is a look back at some of our favourite photographs of creatures great and small from around the world in 2016.
A red squirrel adopts a ninja-like pose reminiscent of the 80s blockbuster Karate Kid as he squares up to another rodent during a fight over some seeds that had been thrown onto the snow in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.
A ray joins Sea life London Aquarium aquarist Rebecca Carter for a quick 'selfie' during the annual January deep clean