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)

“The Glimmer Twins”, a statue of Rolling Stones Sir Mick Jagger and Keith Richards created by sculptor Amy Goodman (centre), is unveiled at One Bell Corner in Dartford, Essex, UK on Wednesday, August 9, 2023. The statue has been commissioned by Dartford Borough Council to celebrate two of the town's most famous former residents. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)

A cat looks on near the Victory Pillar at the ruins of the Serapeum of Alexandria, an ancient Greek temple dating to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (246 BC – 391 AD) dedicated to the city's protector deity Serapis, in Egypt's northern coastal city of Alexandria on November 24, 2023. The giant Corinthian column, commonly misidentified as “Pompey's Pillar”, is a Roman triumphal column set up in honour of the Roman emperor Diocletian (298–302 AD), and originally supported a colossal porphyry statue of the emperor in armour. (Photo by Amir Makar/AFP Photo)

Macaques huddle together for warmth at a hot spring in Nagano, Japan in the last decade of December 2023. Known as snow monkeys, the animals soak in the 40°C water every day during cold weather, spending their bathtime grooming, snoozing and playing on visitors’ camera tripods. (Photo by David Lazar/Animal News Agency)

Muslims women walk to the prayer hall of a mosque for a mass prayer during Eid al-Adha celebrations at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on June 17, 2024. (Photo by Hasnoor Hussain/Reuters)

A worker pauses for a sandwich, resting on a girder during the construction of a skycraper. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1930

“Light From Heaven”. Taken around Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia in the morning. Photo location: East Java, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Pimpin Nagawan/National Geographic Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

Revelers dance at the Old Settler's Music Festival in Driftwood, Texas, U.S. on April 22, 2017. (Photo by Mohammad Khursheed/Reuters)