The civilised world lies on its knees, a sickness wracking its body. The affliction causes a necrotising of tissues so perfectly uniform in distribution that victims take on the appearance of corpses long before death occurs due to organ failure or secondary infections. ...

A Thai villager runs with a bullock during a catching a bullock competition as part of the annual bullock cart racing festival in Phetchaburi province, Thailand, 21 February 2016. The annual bullock cart race festival held to celebrate the end of the harvest season. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

Girls rest on stairs at the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference (ChinaJoy) in Shanghai, China July 27, 2017. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Hot air balloons fly over the sky in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand, December 6, 2014. The two-day International Balloon festival 2014 featuring balloon pilots from Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Britain, and Czech Republic is held on December 06-07 2014 to celebrate Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 87th birthday and also aimed to promote the tourism industry in Chiang Mai northern city. (Photo by Pongmanat Tasiri/EPA)

A participant wearing a tiger mask performs during the “Paseo del Pendon”, a traditional artistic march in Chilpancingo, December 21, 2014. The “Paseo del Pendon” (walk banner) is a traditional celebration in the streets of Chilpancingo to mark the begin of the the year-end festivities in the city. (Photo by Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

Street musicians with their faces covered with animal masks play to earn some money in central Vienna, Austria, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Pope Francis attends a circus performance during his weekly general audience at Paul VI hall on December 22, 2016 at the Vatican. (Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP Photo)

Behaviour: Mammals category. Giant Gathering by Tony Wu, USA. Dozens of sperm whales mingled noisily off Sri Lanka’s northeast coast, stacked as far down as Tony could see. This was a congregation of dozens of social units, like a gathering of the clans. Aggregations like this could be a critical part of the whales’ rich social lives but are rarely reported. Some two thirds of the population was wiped out before commercial whaling was banned in 1986. This kind of major gathering could be “a sign that populations are recovering”, says Tony. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017)