This year has been a wild one for the animal kingdom. Baby pandas captured our hearts, new species were discovered in the depths of the Amazon rainforest and others were edged closer to extinction. We've seen some truly breathtaking shots of our favorite furry, flying and burrowing critters during our weekly roundup of stunning animal photography, but we've compiled a list of a few of the best for you to enjoy one last time below.
Take a look:
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A cheetah walks in the snow at Mulhouse zoo, on February 12, 2013. (SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images)
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An Amur tiger lies in the snow at the Calgary Zoo in Calgary, Canada on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh)
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This photo, made Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013, shows a baby hippo, foreground, that was born Oct. 3 at the Gulf Breeze Zoo in Gulf Breeze, Florida. (AP Photo/Northwest Florida Daily News, Nick Tomecek)
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A bee collects pollen from a yellow flower on May 17, 2013 in Baghdad. (ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images)
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Camels walk along sand dunes in the Liwa desert, 220 kms west of Abu Dhabi, as the Mazayin Dhafra Camel Festival takes place on December 22, 2013. (AFP PHOTO/KARIM SAHIB)
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Seagulls fly in Ipanema beach on a cloudy day in Rio de Janeiro, on November 30, 2013 Brazil. (CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images)
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New-born gorilla NAikais is held in the arms of its mother in Burgers Zoo in Arnhem, The Netherlands, on November 28, 2013. (ROBIN UTRECHT/AFP/Getty Images)
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A white-handed gibbon, yet to be named, clings to his mother 24-year-old Phoenice, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013, at the Philadelphia Zoo. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
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A falcon flies over the Liwa desert, 220 kms west of Abu Dhabi, on the sidelines of the Mazayin Dhafra Camel Festival on December 21, 2013. (KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images)
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A snowy owl sits in its compound at the zoological garden during low temperatures in Hof, southern Germany, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/dpa, David Ebener)
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A three-month-old Sumatran tiger cub named "Bandar" reacts after being dunked in the tiger exhibit moat for a swimming test at the National Zoo in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
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A Southern right whale breaches near the shore of Muizenberg Beach in False Bay, Cape Town on October 11, 2013. (JENNIFER BRUCE/AFP/Getty Images)
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A six-month old female liliger cub Eva plays in the snow in a Zoo in Novosibirsk, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013. (AP Photo /Ilnar Salakhiev)
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A pink flamingo is seen on October 3, 2013 at the Zoological Center of Antwerp. (JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images)
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In this Monday, Sept. 23, 2013 photo, fourteen panda cubs are arranged in a crib for photos as they are shown to the public at the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base in Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan province. (AP Photo)
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A picture taken on March 8, 2013 shows horses in a field along the border between Syria and Israel, in the Golan Heights. (JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
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Snails are pictured at the 'Snail Garden' farm in Krasin, northern Poland, on May 29, 2013. (JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
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A herd of wild elephants from the nearby Rani Forest reserve eat water hyacinths in the wetlands at Deepor Beel on the outskirts of Guwahati on August 24, 2013. (BIJU BORO/AFP/Getty Images)
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The hamadryas baboons behave strangely at the Emmen Zoo in Emmen, inNetherlands, on July 31, 2013. (VINCENT JANNINK/AFP/Getty Images)
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Northern gannets congregate on the Lummen cliffs, where thousands of the birds have made their home, on August 3, 2013 on Helgoland Island, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
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Barn Owl chicks (chouette-effraie) are pictured at the zoo of the French eastern city of Amneville, on July 8, 2013. (JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP/Getty Images)
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Puffins return to their summer breeding grounds on the Farne Islands as National Trust rangers carry out a Puffin census on May 16, 2013 in the Farne Islands, England. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
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Hundreds of Scarlet macaws (Ara macaw) are released at Xcaret park, in the Mayan Riviera, near Playa del Carmen city, Mexico on April 25, 2013. (ELIZABETH RUIZ/AFP/Getty Images)
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A polar bear shakes off the water while he swims in the pool of its enclosure in the zoo of Hannover, northern Germany, Friday March 15, 2013. (AP Photo/dpa, Jochen Luebke)
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Japanese macaque monkeys huddle together in a group to protect themselves against the cold weather at Awajishima Monkey Center on January 26, 2013 in Sumoto, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)
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A Sri Lankan elephant bathes in a pond at Gangarama temple in Colombo on June 2, 2013. (Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images)
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A poisonous frog (Phyllobates bicolor) is shown in Santa Fe Zoo, in Medellin, Colombia, on January 15, 2013. (FREDY AMARILES/AFP/Getty Images)
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Marina Lacasse, The Canadian Press / AP
In this Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 photo provided by Marina Lacasse, a killer whale surfaces through a small hole in the ice near Inukjuak, in Northern Quebec. (Marina Lacasse, The Canadian Press / AP)
Click here to read more about what’s happening with your favorite creatures, and check out other captivating photos from 2013 below:
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