Guardian of the Mangroves – Overall Winner. Tanya Houppermans, Cuba. A curious American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) swims right up to Tanya, at Gardens of the Queen (Jardines De La Reina), an archipelago off the coast of Cuba. It has been strictly protected since 1996, and is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. ‍ “The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves and I wanted to capture close ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat. I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical”. (Photo by Tanya Griffin Houppermans/Mangrove Photographer of the Year)

A Palestinian boy, who was displaced by Israel's military offensive with his family on south Gaza, holds a cat as he attempts to return to his home in north Gaza through an Israeli checkpoint, in the central Gaza Strip, on April 15, 2024. (Photo by Ramadan Abed/Reuters)

Sunrise over the River Thames and Tower Bridge in London today morning on January 28, 2024. It has been forecast that Sahara dust will be in the atmosphere. (Photo by Alister Gooding/Picture Exclusive)

A child prays in front of the cenotaph dedicated to the victims of the atomic bombing at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan Friday, August 6, 2021. Hiroshima on Friday marked the 76th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing of the city. (Photo by Kyodo News via AP Photo)

A woman who was injured after being trampled is helped away, after residents desperate for a planned distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya's coronavirus-related movement restrictions pushed through a gate and created a stampede, causing police to fire tear gas and leaving several injured, at a district office in the Kibera slum, or informal settlement, of Nairobi, Friday, April 10, 2020. (Photo by Brian Inganga/AP Photo)

Steven Busulwa, an animal keeper, runs away from a charging rhino at the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Center (UWEC) amid the lockdown as part of the measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), within Wakiso district, in Entebbe, Uganda on April 20, 2020. (Photo by Abubaker Lubowa/Reuters)

A boy with his bike is seen as rainbow appears after a rainfall in Edremit district of Van province in Turkey on July 08, 2020. (Photo by Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A soldier under Russian command restrains a colleague after he fired his weapon into the air and screamed orders to turn back at an approaching group of over 100 unarmed Ukrainian troops at the Belbek airbase, which the Russian troops are occcupying, in Crimea on March 4, 2014 in Lubimovka, Ukraine. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)