A golden huddle by Minqiang Lu, China. Two females and a male golden snub-nosed monkey huddle together to keep warm in the extreme cold. Threatened by forest loss and fragmentation, this endangered species is confined to central China. Restricted to living high up in the temperate forests, these monkeys – here in the Qinling mountains in Shaanxi province – feed mostly in the trees, on leaves, bark, buds and lichen. In heavy wind and snow, Minqiang walked up the mountain carrying his equipment. He stayed for half an hour in temperatures of –10C opposite the tree where the group was huddled before achieving this eye-level composition. (Photo by Minqiang Lu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Breath of an Arctic fox by Marco Gaiotti, Italy. Marco was watching this little Arctic fox as it incessantly called another nearby. Gradually he noticed the fox’s wet breath was quickly freezing in the air after each call. It was late winter in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, and the air was -35C (-31F). Photographing Arctic foxes is often frustrating, as they are normally running around fast in search of food, but this one was very relaxed and let Marco get close enough to focus on it, with the light glowing perfectly in the background. (Photo by Marco Gaiotti/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)

People enjoying the hot weather on Brighton beach in Sussex, England on August 7, 2020. (Photo by Stephen Lock/i-Images)

Flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires consume a home in unincorporated Napa County, Calif., on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. Fire crews across the region scrambled to contain dozens of wildfires sparked by lightning strikes. (Photo by Noah Berger/AP Photo)

American media personality and socialite Kourtney Kardashian was in the middle of shooting her Hulu show, The Kardashians in the first decade of February 2022. (Photo by Kourtney Kardashian/Instagram)

A red squirrel leaps over a gray squirrel after the larger squirrel became annoyed with its territory being encroached upon, Saturday, May 28, 2022, in Freeport, Maine. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

Polar frame, by Dmitry Kokh, Russia. When Kokh’s boat approached the small island of Kolyuchin in the Russian High Arctic, which had been abandoned by humans since 1992, he was surprised to spot movement in one of the houses. Binoculars revealed polar bears – more than 20 in total – exploring the ghost town. Dmitry used a low-noise drone to document them. (Photo by Dmitry Kokh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022)

Belarusian ornithologist Vladimir Ivanovski, 72, stands on a tree as he builds an artificial nest for birds of prey from tree branches, in a marsh near the village of Kazyany, Belarus on October 20, 2019. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)