Dario Sammartino, of Italy, competes at the final table during the World Series of Poker at the Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas Sunday, July 14, 2019. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP Photo)

Guardian of the Mangroves – Overall Winner. Tanya Houppermans, Cuba. A curious American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) swims right up to Tanya, at Gardens of the Queen (Jardines De La Reina), an archipelago off the coast of Cuba. It has been strictly protected since 1996, and is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. ‍ “The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves and I wanted to capture close ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat. I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical”. (Photo by Tanya Griffin Houppermans/Mangrove Photographer of the Year)

Giant pandas enjoy food around a table at Chongqing Zoo, Chongqing, China on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 30, 2014, a dragonfly sits on the nose of a Gharial, rare crocodile-like creatures, in the River Chambal near Bhopepura village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The narrow 250-mile stretch of the Chambal is a place of crocodiles and jackals, of river dolphins and the occasional wolf. Hundreds of species of birds, storks, geese, babblers, larks, falcons and so many more, nest along the river. Endangered birds lay small speckled eggs in tiny pits they dig in the sandbars. Gharials, rare crocodile-like creatures that look like they swaggered out of the Mesozoic Era, are commonplace here and nowhere else. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, illuminate the sky over Flakstad beach on Lofoten Islands in the Arctic Circle on September 5, 2017. (Photo by Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP Photo)

The aerial view shows three uprooted trees at a road near Hildesheim, Germany Friday, October 6, 2017. Seven people died Thursday as high winds knocked over trees and caused widespread travel chaos in northern Germany. (Photo by Julian Stratenschulte/DPA via AP Photo)

In this May 2016 photo released by The Ocean Agency/XL Catlin Seaview Survey, a boat sails near a coral reef that has been bleached white by heat stress in the Maldives. oral reefs, unique underwater ecosystems that sustain a quarter of the world's marine species and half a billion people, are dying on an unprecedented scale. Scientists are racing to prevent a complete wipeout within decades. (Photo by The Ocean Agency/XL Catlin Seaview Survey via AP Photo)

A stork-billed kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) is seen perched on a tree during monsoon rain on July 25, 2016 in Bintan, Indonesia. The stork-billed kingfisher is a tree species which is widely but sparsely distributed in the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India to Indonesia. This kingfisher is resident throughout its range. It is very large, measuring 35 to 38 cm (14 to 15 in) in length. The adult has a green back, blue wings and tail, and grey head. (Photo by Sijori Images/Barcroft Images)