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)

The secretive indri (Indri indri) of Madagascar, the largest living lemur. It is also critically endangered and highly evolutionarily distinct with no close relatives, which makes its branch one of most precarious on the mammal evolutionary tree. In the likely event that the indri goes extinct, we will lose 19m years of unique evolutionary history from the mammal tree of life. (Photo by Pierre-Yves Babelon/Aarhus University)

An Indonesian jockey rides two bulls with a cart during a traditional sport bull race locally called “pacu jawi” in Pariangan of Tanah Datar regency in West Sumatra on December 1, 2018. (Photo by Adek Berry/AFP Photo)

Iraqi Kurdish women train weight lifting at a centre in Iraq's Kurdish regional capital of Arbil on February 2, 2022. Women's sports have developed at a sluggish pace across much of conservative Iraq, which has struggled through decades of conflict. But the Kurdistan region was spared the brunt of the violence and destruction, and its infrastructure, facilities and government funding have paved the way for a boom in professional women's sports. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

A Muslim worshipper belonging to the Mouride Brotherhood prays in the sea during the “prayer preformed at sea” ceremony in Dakar on September 21, 2023. Followers of the Muslim Mouride brotherhood in Senegal gather for a ceremony celebrating the prayer that the founder of the brotherhood, Cheikh Amadou Bamba preformed at sea when exiled to Gabon by the French. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

Gail Couillard, of South Burlington, Vermont, waits with her dog, Lyndon, for Republican presidential candidate, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to take the stage at a campaign event at the DoubleTree Hotel on March 3, 2024 in South Burlington, Vermont. Despite having lost every state primary thus far to former President Donald Trump, Haley intends to stay in the Republican race at least through Super Tuesday on March 5. (Photo by John Tully/Getty Images)

Colombia supporters having fun during the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group H match between Germany and Colombia at Sydney Football Stadium on July 30, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Carl Recine/Reuters)

Members of the Indonesian Presidential Security Forces (Paspampres) show their skills during the simulation of a terrorist attack in Jakarta, Indonesia, 29 December 2016. According to reports in local media the Indonesian security forces have already arrested 21 terrorists suspects and fatally shot five of them, who were allegedly planning attacks in the Indonesian capital during the Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations this year. The presentation was shown on the occasion of a visit by Indonesian President Joko Widodo and a delegation to the Paspampres headquarters in Jakarta. (Photo by Bagus Indahono/EPA)