Alluvial Fan, China. A vast alluvial fan blossoms across the desolate landscape between the Kunlun and Altun mountain ranges that form the southern border of the Taklimakan Desert in China’s XinJiang Province. Image taken by the ASTER instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite on May 2nd, 2002. (Photo by NASA/GSFC/USGS EROS Data Center)

Michael O’Neill won a prize in animal portraits with fry of a peacock bass hovering around their mother for protection against predators in South Florida. (Photo by Michael Patrick O'Neill/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year)

In this picture taken on Thursday, December 1, 2016, an Iranian woman covers herself with a blanket due to the cold, while visiting Khour salt lake during her tour of the Mesr desert about 305 miles (500 kilometers) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran. Deserts make up parts of Iran which have recently become tourist destination for young Iranians looking for a break on their weekend. The increase in tourists to the desert has stimulated economic growth in the area. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

First place, Portrait. Three flat-coated retrievers – Crew, Darcie and Pagan – by Carol Durrant from the UK. (Photo by Carol Durrant/Dog Photographer of the Year 2018)

This is the mesmerising image of a colourful Milky Way shining down on Mount Fuji. Steve Lance Lee, 37, captured the sky above the iconic mountain whilst on his honey moon in Lake Kawaguchiko, Japan. Mount Fuji is illuminated underneath the galaxy of stars, creating an impressive landscape. Here: The beautiful image captured by Steve Lance Lee of the Milky Way seemingly errupting from Mt. Fuji in Japan. (Photo by Steve Lance Lee/Caters News)

Just a few hours’ drive from the Belarus capital of Minsk, many villagers still live off the land. Nearly 80% of the country’s 9.5 million citizens live in urban areas, but for the rest, being close to nature can outweigh the hardships of country life. Here: Boys play in the Stviga River on a hot summer day near the village of Pogost, Belarus, August 16, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Golden monkeys play at a conservation base in Shennongjia, central China's Hubei Province, January 26, 2018. The golden monkey conservation base witnessed a snowfall recently. (Photo by Du Huaju/Xinhua/Barcroft Images)

Wildlife photographer Danté Fenolio has headed into areas untouched by sunlight – deep seas, caves and underground – and found creatures that are exploding with colour. Here: The golden harlequin toad has vanished from the wild, and only a small number live on in captivity. A fungus caused them, and many other amphibians, to die out in their home in Central America. (Photo by Danté Fenolio/The Guardian/Johns Hopkins University Press)