Animals they love
National Geographic assigned users of its "Your Shot" project to submit their best animal photos. The best photographs created for "The Animals We Love" assignment were edited by photographer Robin Schwartz who challenged participants to "differentiate between poignant and too cute." Read on to see a selection of the best images.
"I met this baby elephant while documenting a baby elephant rehabilitation/release program in Assam, India. He had lost his mother in a flood. I spent a lot of time with him and became quite attached. When I finally had to leave, I turned around one more time to look at the building that housed him and saw he had got up on his hind legs and was looking out the window at me. His expression was so strikingly human in that moment and I saw in his eyes something universal and profoundly expressive."
More images from Julia Cumes
Your Shot
"15 years ago I rescued and hand raised two orphan antillean manatees, since then I have not stopped working with those amazing and gentle animals."
More images from Luis Eduardo Sandoval Bavaresco
Your Shot
"Having a sick cow in the herd affects any farmer deeply and even though this farmer has over 400 head of cattle, he can quickly asses which are sick and bring these out for treatment - he knows every single one, he raised every one of them. To calm his cows during treatment, he sits on it."
More images from Henrik Kaarsholm
Your Shot
"Some people love cute cats and dogs, some people love city birds. Here is the shot of Warsaw man with his beloved pigeons that he feeds everyday on the main square of the Warsaw Old Town."
More images from Malgorzata Walkowska
Your Shot
"We keep our 113 pound Lab out of our daughter's room (swallowing a pair of underpants got him banished), but getting up on her bed is one of his little pleasures in life. Perhaps surrounding him with treats would complete his idea of heaven. Or if he can't reach them.... a nightmare."
More images from Mike Melnotte
Your Shot
"Cat lover carrying his pets through the Hiroshima streets."
More images from Juan Fontaine
Your Shot
"In the surroundings of Kyoto you can find the village of Nara. In it, all temples and parks are loaded with wild and free deers. You can touch and feed them. It's amazing the respect and care people here have with both animals and plants. In this picture you can see a group of students visting one of the main temples in the city sharing with the deers as if they were another of their classmates."
More images from Juan Fontaine
Your Shot
"Antonio"
More images from Margherita Vitagliano