A baby baboon appears to ride its mother like a horse at the Chobe River, in The Chobe National Park, Botswana, Southern Africa in January 2023. Young monkeys often ride on their parent's backs, like this Chacma baboon, for protection. (Photo by William Steel/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A woman holds up an umbrella and license plates, one that reads “love”, during violent protests between riot police and demonstrators in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong on October 1, 2019. The city observes the National Day holiday to mark the 70th anniversary of communist China's founding Strife-torn Hong Kong on October 1 marked the 70th anniversary of communist China's founding with defiant “Day of Grief” protests and fresh clashes with police as pro-democracy activists ignored a ban and took to the streets across the city. (Photo by Nicolas Asfouri/AFP Photo)

Larsa Pippen leaves little to the imagination in a VERY racy warrior costume as she joins Shanina Shaik at Paris Hilton's Halloween bash in Beverly Hills, CA. on October 24, 2019. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

Factory waste including dyes from the many textile factories in the region drain into a tributary of the Citarum river on August 27, 2018 outside Bandung, Java, Indonesia. (Photo by Ed Wray/Getty Images)

Mini-pigs perform during the presentation in Balashikha, Russia on December 19, 2018. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A seagull eats a piece of dried fish of a man's hand during sunset at Bang Pu seaside resort in Samut Prakan province on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, 13 January 2019. Every year during the cold winter months between October to March thousands of seagulls migrate to Bang Pu seaside from Siberia to escape the harsh winter. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA/EFE)

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)

The tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation Carina. (Photo by Reuters/NASA)