A mahout washes an elephant in a pool at Gangaramaya Buddhist temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters) Click image to zoom.

Thousands of motorcyclists wait to depart from Gateway Park in Fort Worth, Texas and ride to QuickTrip Park in Grand Prairie, carrying donated toys, during the annual Big Texas Toy Run. (Brandon Wade/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram) Click image to zoom.

Fifty thousand candles were lit in Praca do Comercio, Lisbon’s downtown square, as part of an attempt by the non-governmental organization Terra dos Sonhos (Land of Dreams) to achieve a Guinness World Record. The candles were sold at 1 euro each ($1.30) to raise funds for realizing the dreams of children suffering from long and terminal illnesses. (Hugo Correia/Reuters) Click image to zoom.

A worker dressed as Santa Claus has his pants bitten by a crocodile during feeding time inside a cage of a crocodile farm. (Romeo Ranoco/Reuters) Click image to zoom.

Fourteen-week-old Melinda Star Guido holds her mother’s little finger while lying in an incubator at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles. At birth, Melinda tipped the scales at only 9 1/2 ounces, a tad less than the weight of two iPhone 4S. She is believed to be the second smallest baby to survive in the United States and the third smallest in the world. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press) Click image to zoom.

A truck drives through the frozen hills of Russia, 75 miles south of Siberia, December 14, 2011. (Ilya Naymushin/Associated Press) Click image to zoom.

Greenpeace activists stand near a giant danger sign displayed to protest against the arrival of what they claim to be illegal waste from Italy at the dumping site of Nerva, Spain. The banner reads ‘illegal waste’. (Pedro Armestre/Greenpeace via Reuters) Click image to zoom.

The Dubai Mall, the Address Dubai Mall hotel, and Dubai fountain are seen at night in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dubai and its state-owned non-financial companies have $101.5 billion of outstanding debt and may need further financial support to meet those obligations, Moody’s said. (Gabriela Maj/Bloomberg) Click image to zoom.

Skaters enjoy the ice rink at Trocadero near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, December 11. (Mal Langsdon/Reuters) Click image to zoom.

A tame golden eagle approaches a hunter during an annual hunting competition outside Almaty, Kazakstan. (Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters) Click image to zoom.