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)

A reveler performs during the Myths and Legends parade in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia on December 8, 2018. (Photo by Joaquín Sarmiento/AFP Photo)

An unidentified fashion lover waits outside Chanel's Haute Couture fashion show during snowfall in Paris, Tuesday January 22, 2019. (Photo by Thibault Camus/AP Photo)

A bus in New York City which careened off a road in the Bronx neighborhood of New York is left dangling from an overpass Friday, January 15, 2021, after a crash late Thursday that left the driver in serious condition, police said. (Photo by Craig Ruttle/AP Photo)

In this Monday, June 29, 2020 a man wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus, walks past a hair product billboard on the street in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Africa now has more than a half-million confirmed coronavirus cases as the continent-wide total is now over 508,000 after South Africa recorded another day of more than 10,000 confirmed cases as a new global hot spot. (Photo by Themba Hadebe/AP Photo/File)

An athletes competes in a log carrying relay race event at Peruibe beach during the Indigenous Games, near the Tapirema community of Peruibe, Brazil, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Hundreds of Indigenous athletes gather this weekend in the south of Sao Paulo state to hold their version of the Olympic Games. They will compete for medals in archery, tug of war, athletics, Indigenous wrestling and other sports. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

English model and actress Cara Delevingne poses at the Met Gala, an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute with this year's theme “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty”, in New York City, New York, U.S., May 1, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

A male Sumatran elephant calf named Rocky Balboa, born on May 25, 2024, stands next to its mother, a 40-year-old elephant named Lembang, at the Surabaya Zoo during the introduction of the 3-month-old calf to the public in Surabaya on August 31, 2024. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)