Birds sit on the back of a zebra in the Nairobi National Park, near Nairobi, Kenya, November 21, 2018. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

A man gets ready backstage before performing in the 35th Cochin Carnival, which is held annually to welcome the start of the New Year at Fort Kochi in the southern state of Kerala, India, January 1, 2019. (Photo by Sivaram V/Reuters)

Transgender actress Aubrey Banks presents a creation from the CHULO underwear collection ahead of CHULO founder and lead designer Ricardo Muniz during the New York Fashion Week, in a show that raised money for transgender and cisgender young women victims of violence, in New York, U.S. February 7, 2019. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Meropidae are seen on a rock in Van in Turkey on March 03, 2018. (Photo by Ali Ihsan Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Afghan female police cadets are seen during their graduation ceremony at Sivas Police Vocational Center Directorate in Sivas, Turkey on March 13, 2018. (Photo by Serhat Zafer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)

Freida Pinto as Jas Mitra in Showtime's “Guerrilla”, 2016. (Photo by Sky UK Limited/SHOWTIME)

A woman joyfully leaps across a body of water, carrying a pheasant-decorated Louis Vuitton bag and a paint palette in the last decade of January 2025 in Coldstream, Scottish Borers. (Photo by Phil Wilkinson/The Times)