Local people check the growth of mussels at a river in Haian County on November 2, 2017 in Nantong, Jiangsu Province of China. Fish, shrimp, crab and mussel farming cleans the river and increases the villagers' income at Haian county in Jiangsu. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Bloodthirsty by Thomas P. Peschak, Germany/South Africa — winner, Behaviour: birds. When rations run short on Wolf Island, in the remote northern Galápagos, the sharp-beaked ground finches become vampires. Their sitting targets are Nazca boobies and other large birds. The finches rely on a scant diet of seeds and insects, which regularly dries up, so they drink blood to survive. ‘I’ve seen more than half a dozen finches drinking from a single Nazca booby,’ says Tom. Rather than leave their nests the boobies tolerate the vampires, and the blood loss doesn’t seem to cause permanent harm. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Tao Xiangli gets out of his homemade submarine after operating it in a lake on the outskirts of Beijing September 3, 2009. Amateur inventor Tao, 34, made a fully functional submarine, which has a periscope, depth control tanks, electric motors, manometer, and two propellers, from old oil barrels and tools which he bought at a second-hand market. He took 2 years to invent and test the submarine which costs 30,000 yuan ($4,385). (Photo by Christina Hu/Reuters)

A woman waits to hear about her sister, a teacher, following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. A man killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the elementary school where she taught, massacring 26 people, including 20 children, as youngsters cowered in fear to the sound of gunshots reverberating through the building and screams echoing over the intercom. (Photo by Jessica Hill/Associated Press)

Mount Etna erupts near Sicily, Italy on March 15, 2021. This is the thirteenth time in twenty-eight days. During the early evening of 14 March and the night between 14 and 15 March a strombolian activity at the Southeast Crater gradually increased, leading to a paroxysmal event which had its peak around 01:00 am, ash blown by the wind touched the south-southeast slope of the volcano reaching also Catania, the event ceased completely around 3:45, photo taken from Milo near Catania on March 15, 2021. (Photo by Salvatore Allegra/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Rowdy Alexander watches from atop his horse as a hillside burns on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Wednesday, August 11, 2021, near Lame Deer, Mont. The Richard Spring fire was threatening hundreds of homes as it burned across the reservation. (Photo by Matthew Brown/AP Photo)

Tony Hilliard, left, and his family expose themselves to the elements as Hurricane Ida begins to make landfall, Sunday, August 29, 2021, in New Orleans, La. (Photo by Eric Gay/AP Photo)

Ukrainian artillery fires towards the frontline during heavy fighting amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near Bakhmut, Ukraine on April 13, 2023. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)