A reveller is seen smoking at the annual gay pride parade in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic July 03, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Rojas/Reuters)

A Dutch Military Policeman, left inside, guards part of the reconstructed cockpit, right, and forward section of the fuselage after the Dutch Safety Board presented it's final report into what caused Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to break up high over Eastern Ukraine last year, killing all 298 people on board, during a press conference in Gilze-Rijen, central Netherlands, Tuesday, October 13, 2015. (Photo by Peter Dejong/AP Photo)

An Israeli boy swims next to sheep belonging to a Palestinian farmer in the West Bank village of Al-Auja in the Jordan Valley on April 8, 2015 during the Jewish Passover holiday. Thousands of Israelis spent the day outdoors, picnicking and touring the country during the eight-day Passover holiday, which commemorates the Israelites' exodus from Egypt some 3,500 years ago. (Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP Photo)

Dog puppy “Sandy” protects against the rain with an umbrella fixed on her leash during a stroll in Rust, southern Germany, on May 26, 2013. (Photo by Patrick Seeger/AFP Photo)

Indian dancers paint their body like tigers as they perform a Tiger dance during the International day of the Tiger in Calcutta, India, July 29, 2015. Students of Calcutta are taking part in an awareness campaign aiming to draw attention to the threats that tigers face due to habitat loss and poaching. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Black Winged Stilt is seen on Kavak Delta, a natural and ecologically important wetland for many migratory birds, in Canakkale, Turkiye on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Alper Tuydes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)

Winner – Animal Portraits: The pose by Mogens Trolle, Denmark. A young male proboscis monkey cocks his head slightly and closes his eyes. Unexpected pale blue eyelids now complement his immaculately groomed auburn hair. He poses for a few seconds as if in meditation. He is a wild visitor to the feeding station at Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary in Sabah, Borneo – “the most laid-back character”, says Trolle, “quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen on another monkey” – connects us, he hopes, with a fellow primate. (Photo by Mogens Trolle/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020)