Animals of the month: September 2013_2242

 Superbike champion Gavin Faith faces 'Chopper' the crocodile in the Cage of Death at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin, Australia.

 23 September: In a publicity stunt for US insurance company Aflac, former *NSync stars Joey Fatone and Lance Bass goofed around in a studio with the company mascot, the Aflac duck - allegedly to help the duck get its quack back. They also posed for selfies with their feathered friend - pulling 'duckfaces', naturally.

16 September 2013: Members of the Cavalry Escort of Honour exercise on the beach in Scheveningen, Netherlands, ahead of Budget Day.  They prepare themselves for possible exposure to gunfire, music, smoke and hostile public reactions.

 Piggy porkers race at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, California on 4 September.

 A Sand Lizard, one of Britain's rarest species of reptiles, is released into sand dunes in north Wales.

 10 September: A rabbit hops to avoid a five-month-old leopard cub during a test of cubs' wild natural instincts at a wildlife park in Qingdao, China.

 Giant Panda cub Yuan Zai has been melting hearts around the world since she was born in Taipei Zoo on 6 July. Pictured here on 18 September, she's now a happy and healthy two-month-old.

 This funny little creature is a 30-day-old echidna baby, known as a 'puggle', and was born last month at Australia Zoo in Queensland. It's one of only 24 puggles ever to be born in captivity.

 11 September 2013: A keeper holds a one-month-old tiger cub at Zhengzhou zoo in China. The tiger is one of a litter of six.

 22 September: A young boy in Delhi plays with a goat in front of closed shop fronts.

 22 September 2013: Birds eat bread on the terrace of a restaurant in Berlin.

 This amazing creature might look like an enormous animate kitchen mop, but is actually a Komondor, a traditional Hungarian guard dog. Their fur coat can weigh as much as 30 kg. This one was snapped in Bodony, northeast of Budapest, on 3 September.

 7 September 2013: A rescued kitten is weighed at the Best Friends Animal Society, a no-kill shelter in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. Kittens are the most euthanised animals at LA's shelters, Candi Crawford, the society's outreach manager, told AP.

 4 September 2013: A pygmy marmoset - the smallest species of monkey in the world - is seen carrying its baby on its back in the rainforest-themed zone of the Ocean Park in Hong Kong.

 September is all about fashion shows, even in the animal kingdom. The pug above was snapped on 20 September modelling a creation by Reichardt and Schiavo during the 2013 Spring-Summer Caribbean Colour Paws show in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 25 September 2013: Yunnan Wildlife Park in China launched a new bus line by hosting a promotional trip with some of the park's animal stars, including Lele the gibbon (pictured).

 This thoughtful-looking Brown Capuchin was spotted in Peru by British wildlife photographer Luke Massey.

 2 September 2013: A lemur at Paignton Zoo in Devon, England, appears engrossed in the UK telephone directory.

 This Cattle Egret chick is one of at least 400 rescued at the site of an illegal tree-cutting at the village of Ranasan in India on 4 September.

 This water vole was spotted on 2 September in Kent, England, by photographer Ian Schofield. Nearly 90 percent of water voles have disappeared in the last decade from the UK, reported Rex Features, mainly due to habitat loss and predators such as the American mink.

 15 September: Zebras leap after drinking from a water source in Nairobi National Park.

 22 September: A stray cat sits perched on a bicycle parked in an alley in the old quarters of Delhi, India.

 Scottish horses Amigo and Lucien (not pictured) have got it made. Their human owners are fine with them letting themselves into the house, standing at the dinner table and even helping themselves to a snack. Amigo (back) was snapped on 15 September with Sharon (right), Sharon's son Connor and their dog Megan.

 11 September 2013: Wildlife photographer Christine Haines snapped these young squirrels leaning out of a nest box on a hot day in Spokane, Washington.

A British farmer was astonished to discover a rare brood of seven baby barn owls in his nesting box. The bumper batch were photographed at his Lincolnshire farm on 10 September.