Seals are common in New England waters, where the most abundant type is the harbor seal, with a population estimated at about 100,000 the last time they were surveyed a decade ago. Gray seals are the second most common seal.

Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans says 9 million of them can be found off Canada and Greenland.

A decade ago, harp seal sightings off Maine were rare, said Lynda Doughty, marine mammal stranding coordinator for the state Department of Marine Resources. The numbers have picked up the past few years, and this year there have been 40 documented sightings — more than double the number spotted last year.

A new species of seahorse has been discovered – more than ten years after the tiny specimen was put on display in a museum.

The creature was caught in 1995 in waters off south-western Australia and taken to a local museum.

But it went unnoticed until 2006 when a staff member realised it was unusual.

Ralph Foster examined it closely and after performing a CT scan concluded it was a type of seahorse previously unknown to science.

The creature, which is just a few millimetres long,  is unlike any other variety because it doesn’t have a dorsal fin.

It has been named Hippocampus paradoxus. The name paradoxus was chosen because of its meaning – strange and contrary to all expectation.

Mr Foster, the collections manager at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, said: ‘We know very little about this weird little beast. 

There are currently about 230,000 known species of sea creature, but scientists estimate that is less than 30 per cent of the number that actually exist.

Artist Paige Thompson had a foxy idea
when she puckered up in front of the mirror and started to paint these amazing animal designs – on her own lips.

Now her unique take on face-painting has become an Internet sensation, attracting thousands of followers to her website and sparking demand for new creations.

The 21-year-old was feeling bored when she stumbled across some Halloween make-up she had as a child and began to paint colourful and cute animals on her mouth before photographing them.

A red crab: Paige takes half an hour in front of
a mirror to paint each creation

A red fox: An early creation and one of Paige’s favourites

Holland’s Tulip Fields

It is almost like German adventurers Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer saw the latest models of electric cars, and decided to see if they could go out and make the manufacturers feel bad. In a move that will have green aficionados cheering and gearheads gently weeping at the state of the world, a new electric car powered by a wind turbine has just been unleashed into the Australian wilds.