The Wildscreen festival is the world’s biggest celebration of screen-based natural history storytelling which takes place every two years in Bristol. Here: “Walrus in Midnight Sun”. Walrus feed mostly on bivalves in productive, shallow and often sandy habitats in the Arctic. This individual, though, arrived on a beach outside Tromsø, northern Norway, and found comfort on a stranded dead sperm whale. After two weeks he approached Audun, and only half a metre away he stretched his tusk forward and touched his hand gently. “This was one of the most memorable moments of my life”, Rikardsen says. He named the 500kg male Buddy. After two months, the dead whale was decomposed and Buddy suddenly disappeared. (Photo by Audun Rikardsen/Wildscreen 2016)

“Lofoten Glow”. I was desperately searching a good sunrise spot this particular morning. Normally Storvatnet Lake is completely covered in snow, so you can only imagine my surprise when I saw these crazy ice formations almost being shot out of the frozen lake. I put my crampons on and took a big risk walking out. I could hear the ice cracking underneath my feet, and when you’re all alone in a fjord/canyon like this – the cracks are echoed and sound really frightening. Was it worth it? I sure think so! Photo location: Storvatnet, Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. (Photo and caption by Stian Klo/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Beneath the Swedish capital lies an intricate web of underground train lines. More than 90 of the 100 stations in the 110km tunnel system, sometimes referred to as “the world’s longest art gallery”, have been decorated with paintings, installations, mosaics and sculptures by 150 artists since the 1950s. After spending a couple of weeks exploring arctic Norway and Sweden, London-based travel photographer Conor MacNeill headed underground to capture images of the metro stations. Here: A rainbow arcs over a girl on the platform of Stadion station. (Photo by Conor MacNeill/The Observer)

The report, prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, showed Syria, Afghanistan and eight sub-Saharan countries as the 10 least happy places on earth to live. The top 10 this year were Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden. Denmark was in third place last year, behind Switzerland and Iceland. The bottom 10 were Madagascar, Tanzania, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi. The United States came in at 13, the United Kingdom at 23, France at 32, and Italy at 50. Here: #8. NEW ZEALAND: A woman dives from a platform into a giant air bed at a park in Palmerston North September 29, 2011. (Photo by Marcos Brindicci/Reuters)

“Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway – April 18, 2002, Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 8,000 km (4,300 miles) by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. All his expeditions are shown in the Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl with a model of the balsa raft “Kon-Tiki” on which he drifted 4,300 miles from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands, proving his theory that Polynesia could originally have been populated by South Americans. (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images). 1950

View from the Insta360 360 degree camera in the last decade of November 2023 attached to a satellite launched 500km into outer space. Chinese firm Insta360 say they have achieved “the first fully exposed camera in space” a feat which required a lot of preparation to get X2 ready for the harsh environment. (Photo by South West News Service)

A surfer rides a wave at the snowy beach of Unstad, in Lofoten Island, Arctic Circle, on March 9, 2016. Surfers from all over the world comes to Lofoten island to surf in extrem conditions. Ocean temperature is 6-7 °C, air temperature around 0°C in spite of a weather very unstable. (Photo by Olivier Morin/AFP Photo)

Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, shine over the plane wreck of a US Navy airplane – a Douglas Super DC-3 – on the Black Beach in Solheimasandur, south Iceland on January 18, 2018. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)