Bruno D'Amicis / Common mulleins (Verbascum thapsus), Poppies (Papaver rhoeas), and Daisies flowering in mountain pasture. Gran Sasso National Park, Central Apennines, Abruzzo, Italy, June.

Thomas Marent / Velvet-purple Coronet (Boissonneaua jardini) hummingbird feeding on flower nectar, Las Tangaras Bird Reserve, Colombia

Thomas Marent / Velvet-purple Coronet (Boissonneaua jardini) hummingbird in defensive posture, Las Tangaras Bird Reserve, Colombia

Pete Oxford / Velvet-purple Coronet (Boissonneaua jardini) male, Mashpi Rainforest Biodiversity Reserve, Pichincha, Ecuador

Mark Raycroft / White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) buck in velvet, North America

Jeff Vanuga / Elk (Cervus canadensis) bull in velvet silhouetted against a setting sun, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, May.

Brent Stephenson / New Zealand peripatus / Velvet worm (Peripatoides novaezealandiae) spitting out a sticky trap at its prey, Kahuranaki, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, September.

Donald M. Jones / Elk (Cervus elaphus) bull, western Montana

Donald M. Jones / Elk (Cervus elaphus) bull, western Canada

Donald M. Jones / Barren-ground Caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) bulls in rainfall, central Alaska

MYN / JP Lawrence / Velvet ant (Dasymutilla quadriguttata) Oxford, Mississippi, USA. Meetyourneighbours.net project

Uri Golman / Greenland reindeer (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) in velvet, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, June.