Birds sneak into the noses of buffaloes. Literally.

These busy birds seem to want to attack this buffalo’s nose directly.

The tiny oxpeckers feed almost entirely on parasites found on larger mammals – and these appeared to be enjoying cleaning out a buffalo’s nostrils and ears at the same time.

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Amateur photographer Nico van Amstel was tickled by the buffalo’s indignant expression as its face became a breeding ground for the flock of birds as it tried to nibble on its own dinner.

But the buffalo’s cavities were undoubtedly much cleaner than they had been initially.

Nico from Alkmaar, the Netherlands, took these photos while on safari in Tanzania.

He said: “I was so happy when I looked at this photo up close.

“It is normal for birds to feed on whatever they can find on the buffalo hide, and larger animals generally do not care about it.

“But it was great to see so many birds on one buffalo’s face at once.

“I love photographing wild animals, it’s exciting, like hunting, with much more respect for nature.”

Every year during the rainy season (October to December), adult Christmas Island red crabs begin their migration from the forest to the Indian Ocean where they breed and spawn. With tens of millions of red crabs living on the island, it is possible to see them emerge from the jungle and invade Christmas Island. The phenomenon lasts for several weeks, forcing roads to close so the crabs can cross.

Norway’s famous bird island Runde is teeming with birds: over 500,000 of them visit from February to August during the nesting season. The bird mountain, with its ocean-facing cliffs, is dominated by puffins. Their nesting season is between April and August, when 100,000 pairs of puffins can be found on the west side of Runde. Outside of the puffin season, they stay at sea along the coast.

There are about 3,000 polar bears and only 2,642 inhabitants in the Svalbard archipelago. Polar bears are found in large numbers on the surrounding islands east of Spitsbergen, but you should be prepared to encounter one anywhere in Svalbard. As the world’s largest land carnivores, they are beautiful but dangerous, and encounters with humans often end in death. There are polar bear watching cruises that allow you to see the animals from a distance.

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Pig Beach, or Pig Island, is an uninhabited island in Exuma, Bahamas, famous for its many swimming pigs. It is said that they were dropped off on the island by sailors who wanted to return to cook and eat them, but never returned. Others say that the pigs survived a shipwreck and managed to swim to the island. Today, the pigs are fed by tourists who visit the island to meet its unexpected residents.