Brian Bevan / Long tailed tit (Aegithalos caudates) nest building, Bedfordshire, England, UK, April.

Enrique Lopez-Tapia / Spiny tree trunk (Pachypodium sp) Berenty Reserve, Madagascar.

Tony Phelps / Boomslang (Dispholidus typus) Immature male hunting in thorn bush above deHoop Vlei, Western Cape, South Africa, December

Stephen Dalton / Mud dauber wasp (Sceliphron caementarium) flying over cactus spines, Everglades NP, Florida, USA

Jack Dykinga / Close-up of two Barrel cacti (Ferocactus acanthodes) in the eastern Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico

Jack Dykinga / Dense stands of Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia sp) in Tamaulipas, Mexico

Rolf Nussbaumer / Common Tree Frog {Hyla arborea} adult resting in wild rose bush, National Park Lake Neusiedl, Austria, April

Jack Dykinga / Trunks of Saguaro Cacti (Carnegiea gigantea) at sunrise, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona. January 1st 2000

Rolf Nussbaumer / Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus) perched on flowering blooming Huisache (Acacia farnesiana), Lake Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. April 2003

Solvin Zankl / Close up of thorns of Crown of thorns starfish {Acanthaster planci} Sulawesi, Indonesia

Anup Shah / Female patas monkey {Erythrocebus patas} feeding on acacia ants, Kenya.

Robin Chittenden / Great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) perched in thorny bush. Cyprus. April.