Fishermen slaughter a 9.61m Baird's Beaked whale at Wada Port on June 28, 2008 in Minami Boso, Chiba, Japan. Only five ports are allowed whaling under the coastal whaling program which tries to keep whaling tradition that dates back to the seventeenth century. Japan is only allowed to hunt a limited number of whales every year. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)

A file photograph dated 07 January 2006 and released by Greenpeace, showing the Yushin Maru, a factory ship in a Japanese whaling fleet, injuring a whale with it's first harpoon attempt. A UN court in The Hague on 31 March 2014 halted Japan's much-criticized whaling programme, ruling that it contravenes a 1986 moratorium on whale hunting. Japan must end its 'research whaling' programme, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said. Japan said the programme was for scientific research and permitted under international conventions. Australia had brought the case to the ICJ in 2010, charging that Japan was breaching international law by killing hundreds of whales every year for commercial purposes. Japan was “deeply disappointed” by the ruling, an unnamed government official was quoted by the Kyodo News agency as saying. But the official said Japan would stand by the ruling. (Photo by Kate Davison/EPA)

ne committed photographer spent a grand total of 3,000 dive hours trying to get the perfect shots, capturing beautiful images of a rare shark feeding frenzy. Laurent Ballesta’s images show the glimmering gray reef sharks hunting in swift packs, flying through the water and feasting on the likes of helpless grouper. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)

The Kazakhs are the descendants of Turkic, Mongolic and Indo-Iranian tribes and Huns that populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea. They are a semi-nomadic people and have roamed the mountains and valleys of western Mongolia with their herds since the 19th century. The ancient art of eagle hunting is one of many traditions and skills that the Kazakhs have, in recent decades, been able to hold on to. They rely on their clan and herds, believing in pre-Islamic cults of the sky, the ancestors, fire and the supernatural forces of good and evil spirits.

Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

In this photo released by the Alaska National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard soldiers use a CH-47 Chinook helicopter to removed an abandoned bus, popularized by the book and movie “Into the Wild”, out of its location in the Alaska backcountry Thursday, June 18, 2020, as part of a training mission. Alaska Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige, in a release, said the bus will be kept in a secure location while her department weighs various options for what to do with it. (Photo by Sgt. Seth LaCount/Alaska National Guard via AP Photo)

A fairy tale and movie-themed gingerbread house creation, featuring a reindeer, made by pastry students of the San Ysidro Adult School Culinary Arts program is pictured during their 9th annual gingerbread house competition in San Ysidro, California December 9, 2014. The students' voting results will be delivered back to their class but the official judging will be performed by chefs and culinary experts during the 9th annual event. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

A freediver uses weights, yoga and camera tricks to create the illusion of walking underwater for a film which took three years to shoot and was completed in 2013 in El Hierro, Canary Islands. Like a scene from a Hollywood science-fiction movie, this trick footage shows a man apparently walking on water. The underwater film was shot by biologist Armiche Ramos and brothers Armando and Francisco del Rosario, who used their expertise in freediving to create the illusion. No computer graphics were involved in the production, with the team relying solely on their own skills – and a few hidden secrets. (Photo by Ocean Brothers/Barcroft Media/ABACAPress)