“The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most important sea turtle habitats in the world, with Lady Elliot Island being a key part of that habitat. Every year between November and March the green and loggerhead turtles lumber up the same beach on which they were born more than 50 years ago. These turtles nest on Lady Elliot Island up to nine times in a season, laying between 80 and 120 eggs per clutch. About eight weeks later, young hatchlings leave their nests and head towards the ocean (January to April)”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A Hawksbill sea turtle is seen swimming on January 15, 2012 in Lady Elliot Island, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Handler Jorge Garcia-Bengochea holds Honor, a miniature therapy horse from Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, as they visit with patients at the Kravis Children's Hospital at Mount Sinai in the Manhattan borough of New York City, March 16, 2016. Some of the most powerful medicine delivered to young patients at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York on Wednesday came in a package less than 32 inches tall and with a tail. Honor, a 10-month-old colt with Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, trotted into the hearts of dozens of children and teens being treated at the Manhattan hospital. (Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters)

A flock of starlings flies over Lake Leman on an autumn morning in the Lavaux near Grandvaux, Switzerland October 20, 2016. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

A Palestinian boy stands next to a damaged car following an Israeli raid in Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on October 20, 2023. (Photo by Raneen Sawafta/Reuters)

A driver on the Horseshoe Pass in North Wales wiping the snow from the windscreen of his car during a heavy snow storm, 18th January 1937. (Photo by Norman Smith)

Now celebrating its 40th year, Nikon Small World is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and photographic excellence of photography taken under the microscope. To select the winners, competition judges analyzed entries from all over the world covering subjects ranging from chemical compounds to up-close-and-personal looks at biological specimens. The 2014 winners will be revealed on October 30th. In 2014, the competition received over 1,200 entries from more than 79 countries around the world. (Photo by Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World 2014)

Canoeists are framed by the tail of a breaching whale in Antarctica in April 2023. The photographer, from California, writes: “It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime moment”. (Photo by Jiahong Zeng/Solent News)

A confiscated pet lion poses with a dog as it arrived back home from the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered authorities to return the animal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 5, 2021. (Photo by Cindy Liu/Reuters)