TIME looks back over the past 12 months and presents a selection of astonishing animal images


A flock of sheep walk in the haze in a Beijing suburb, China, Jan. 15, 2015.



Baby pandas born in 2015 are placed on grass for pictures during a photo opportunity at a giant panda breeding centre in Ya'an, Sichuan province, China, Oct. 24, 2015.


Spencer, Alexandra and Victoria (from left) three of 10 corgis racing against each other, battle it out for first place in the Ladbrokes Barkingham Palace Gold Cup Royal Corgi Race in Bedford Square, London, in the hope of determining the name of the next royal baby, ahead of the Duchess of Cambridge's April due date. The baby was named Alexandra. March 19, 2015.


An sub-adult hippo tosses a small calf into the air as the distressed mother watches, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa, April 4, 2015.


A shepherd dog leaps in the air as it protects a homestead next to a local eagle hunting competition in Qinghe County, Xinjiang, northwestern China, Jan. 30, 2015.


Queen Elizabeth II visits the Large Animals Clinical Skills Building where she met students undertaking equine examinations and working with livestock. Queen Elizabeth II arrived along with the Duke of Edinburgh at the University of Surrey in Guildford, England, to officially open the university’s new School of Veterinary Medicine. Oct. 15, 2015.


Dairy cows nuzzle a barn cat as they wait to be milked at a farm in Granby, Quebec, July 26, 2015.


A young visitor holds up her toy bunny to the aquarium glass in front of Aurora the Russian polar bear at the Sao Paulo Aquarium, Brazil, April 16, 2015.


Two young sloth bears play in the zoo in Leipzig, Germany, May 5, 2015.


Two endangered baby undulate rays were born at the Sea Life London Aquarium as part of the attraction's breeding and tracking programme. Aug. 11, 2015.


Nastia Pokolo, 74, feeds sheep near her house in the village of Babinets, southwest of the capital Minsk, Belarus, April 17, 2015.


A hippopotamus stands in the mud in front of a Swatch watch kiosk after it escaped from a flooded zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, June 14, 2015.


A man holds a pig on a float to cross a flooded road amidst a strong current in Sta Rosa, Nueva Ecija in northern Philippines. Oct. 19, 2015, after the area was hit by Typhoon Koppu.


A municipal worker stands near dead animals at a flooded zoo in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, June 15, 2015.


A lion, which was anesthetized, lies in a truck in Champetieres, France, during the evacuation of over 160 animals from the Bouy zoo. The zoo is in compulsory liquidation and its owner was jailed for international trafficking of protected species by an organized gang. April 9, 2015.


A week-old panda cub sleeps in an incubator at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, China, on June 30, 2015. China's Sichuan province is home to the majority of the the world's nearly 1,900 endangered giant pandas.


A beluga whale sprays water towards visitors during a summer attraction at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo, Japan, July 20, 2015.


Dogs, big and small, and some in tandem or with their owner, participate in the 7th annual Surf City Surf Dog contest in Huntington Beach, Calif., Sept. 27, 2015.


A goldfinch feeds its newly hatched chicks in their nest in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea, April 2, 2014.


A hawk flies over the swimming pool of the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez during the 68th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 20, 2015.


A man rides a horse with a child through the flames during the "Luminarias" annual religious celebration on the night before Saint Anthony's, patron of animals, in the village of San Bartolome de los Pinares, about 62 miles northwest of Madrid, Spain, Jan. 16, 2014. According to tradition that dates back 500 years, people ride their horses through the narrow cobblestone streets of this small village to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires.


A family of giraffes looks out from their enclosure before taking part in a Christmas-themed feeding session at Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo, Australia, Dec. 9, 2014.


Cats crowd the harbor on Aoshima Island in the Ehime prefecture in southern Japan, Feb. 25, 2015. An army of cats rules the remote island in southern Japan, curling up in abandoned houses or strutting about in a fishing village that is overrun with felines outnumbering humans six to one.


Orangutans walk as haze shrouds Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation camp in Nyaru Menteng, Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, Oct. 5, 2015.



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