Elephants are paraded in front of the Grand Palace to pay respects to the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Bangkok on October 8, 2016. Thailand' s King Bhumibol Adulyadej died at the age of 88 on October 13 after years of ill health, ending a seven- decade reign and leaving the politically divided nation without its key pillar of unity. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Photo)

American Ballet Theater's dancers are silhouetted as they rehearse for the opening night at the Shanghai Grand Theater in Shanghai, Thursday, November 2, 2023. The American national ballet company is returning to China for the first time in a decade for shows in Shanghai and Beijing in the latest sign strained relations between the United States and China are beginning to thaw. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Grand prize winner: environmental photographer of the year 2023; also 1st place in the humanity v nature category; and winner of the 2023 public award. Lopé national park, Gabon, 2021. An angry elephant tries to defend itself after it was hit by a train that crosses paths the animals use within Lopé national park. Park officials decided the elephant was too severely injured to be saved. After it was killed, the park director distributed the meat to local people. As the forest loses its carrying capacity to sustain its megafauna, this kind of human-wildlife conflict is increasing. (Photo by Jasper Doest/Environmental Photography Award)

Second Place Winner: “Thunderstorm at False Kiva”. I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through, creating this dramatic image. – Max Seigal. National Geographic Traveler Director of Photography Dan Westergren, one of this year's judges, shares his thoughts on the second place winner: “This photo combines two different scenes into one: the small kiva in a cliff dwelling and the grand vista of Canyonlands National Park across the valley. I really like the two different color palettes – warm inside and purple outside. This two-for-one scene was caused by the lightning storm outside the dwelling, which lit up the landscape like it was a huge electronic flash. Looking at this picture I can imagine what a wonderful sight it must have been for the ancient people who lived here. It doesn't seem too amazing now in our modern world, but might have been mind-blowing for the prehistoric residents”. Location: Utah. (Photo and caption by Max Seigal/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

“The saguaro (scientific name Carnegiea gigantea) is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in the U.S. state of Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, a small part of Baja California in the San Felipe Desert and an extremely small area of California, U.S. The saguaro blossom is the State Wildflower of Arizona”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Daniel Appel (L), a firefighter with Engine 84 from the Lassen National Forest in California and Mike Hallen, (R), Arizona representative of the National Register of Big Trees, measure the circumference of this Saguaro cactus called the "Grand One," in the Tonto National Forest on July 1, 2005 35 miles north of Phoenix, near Carefree, Arizona. The cactus, estimated to be more than 200 years old, measures a circumference of 7 feet, 10 inches (2.4 meters) and stands 46 feet high (14 meters). The cactus was burned in the Cave Creek Complex fire and may not survive. It was once the largest Saguaro in the world, two others have been found recently that have tied it's measurements. The fire has burned more than 214,000 acres of the Sonoran desert. (Photo by Jeff Topping/Getty Images)

A man photographs Anila Quayyum Agha's “Intersections” art work on the first day of ArtPrize at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Wednesday, September 24, 2014. (Photo by Emily Rose Bennett/AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press)

Grand champion Hakuho (front) barely defeats Daieisho on the first day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan on March 14, 2021. (Photo by Kyodo News/Newscom/Profimedia)

Recording artist Ariana Grande performs onstage during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 19, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)