We share our world with many other species and live in an ever-changing environment. Fortunately, photographers around the world have captured the moments and beauty that allow us to see amazing views of this awe-inspiring planet. This is a collection of favourite photos from The Natural World gallery in 2011, a showcase of images of animals and environment that runs on Boston.com throughout the year. Next week's posts will take a look at the year in photos, so stay tuned. -Leanne Burden Seidel (50 photos total)

Seahorses are displayed at an endangered species exhibition at London Zoo.

( Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

A buffalo cools off in a pond in the outskirts of Jammu in Kashmir. (Mukesh Gupta/Reuters)

Lightning flashes around the ash plume of the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain near Entrelagos, Chile. (Carlos Gutierrez/Reuters)

An Abyssinian Colobus baby yawns at the Nogeyama Zoological Gardens in Yokohama, Japan. (Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press)

Clouds roll in and out of Paris, Texas, behind the Eiffel Tower replica. (Sam Craft/The Paris News via Associated Press)

A zebra stands in its enclosure in the Berlin zoo. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

lion's mane jellyfish swims beneath the waters at the Farne Islands, England. The archipelago of 16 to 28 separate islands (depending on the tide) off Northumberland is a summer home to many kinds of wildlife. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

A snake at a snake farm in Zisiqiao village, also known as the snake town, in Zhejiang Province, China. Residents raise more than 3 million snakes a year for food and medicinal purposes. (Aly Song/Reuters)

A swarm of bees, partly loaded with pollen, returns to its hive in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Frank Rumpenhorst/AFP/Getty Images)

A one-week-old jaguar cub plays with her mother Rosa Salvaje at the National Zoo in Managua, Nicaragua. (Esteban Felix/Associated Press)

A rare baby Siamese crocodile hatches from an egg at the Lao Zoo outside Vientiane, Laos. Last month, 20 baby crocodiles were hatched from eggs

found in a lake in southern Laos; they will eventually be released into the wild. (Wildlife Conservation Society/Associated Press)

Two 3-month-old crowned lemurs lay on their mother's back at the zoo in Mulhouse, France. Every year there are about 250 to 350 births at the Mulhouse zoo. (Sebastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images)

Horses fight during the Rapa Das Bestas traditional event in Sabucedo, Spain. Hundreds of wild horses are rounded up,

trimmed, and groomed in Spain's northwestern region of Galicia on the first weekend of July. (Miguel Vidal/Reuters)