A female forest guard carries a tranquillizer gun in the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in Sasan, in Gujarat December 2, 2014. The sanctuary, which is home to Asiatic lions in India, has an area of 1,412 sq km in which female guards were employed for the first time in India in 2007. The guards fetch a monthly salary of around $148 for working almost 12 hours a day, six days a week, said one of the female guards. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

A portrait of Kazakh historical figure Ablai Khan is projected on a building in downtown Astana, Kazakhstan, October 8, 2015. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

People walk along the Neva River at sunset in St.Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, December 6, 2016. The temperature in St.Petersburg is –9C ( 15.8 °F). (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

An open water swimmer surfaces as she enjoys a socially-distanced dawn swim after breaking the ice on the surface of a lake near Scunthorpe, northern England, January 9, 2021. Faced by a sharp rise in coronavirus infections, driven by the new strain, England entered a strict lockdown on January 5, 2021, with schools and non-essential shops closed for at least six weeks after previous measures failed to halt the steep rise in cases. (Photo by Lindsey Parnaby/AFP Photo)

A pregnant woman poses on June 19, 2018 in Vertou, western France. France had an estimated population of 68.4 million by January 1, 2024, representing a further year-on-year increase of 0.3 percent, limited by a marked drop in the birth rate, the INSEE national statistics bureau of France reported on January 16, 2024. In 2023, 678,000 babies were born in France, 6.6 percent fewer than the previous year, the lowest number of births in any year since 1946. Over the same period, there were 631,000 deaths, down 6.5 percent on 2022, a year marked by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and episodes of extreme heat. (Photo by Loic Venance/AFP Photo)

A midnight safari has been caught on camera as wild animals gather in front of a full moon. Photographer Brendon Cremer, 35, snapped the impressive collection of night sky images while in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. It can be challenging for even the best photographers to take full control of their camera while ensuring they don’t become the deadly animals' next meal. But this impressive set of images looks both effortless and fierce. Here: A elepant strolls under the milkyway. (Photo by Brendon Cremer/Caters News)

Fireworks light up over Victoria Harbour to celebrate the 75th anniversary of China's National Day, in Hong Kong, China on October 1, 2024. (Photo by Lam Yik/Reuters)

A photographer has captured these eerie images showing the scale of some of Britain's deepest darkest wonders. Mike Deere, from Reading, heads to daunting locations such as abandoned mine shafts, miles of sewer tunnels that snake underneath London and even disused cooling towers. Photo: This incredible picture was taken at the Box Freestone Mine, in Wiltshire. Mike revealed that even experienced map readers would struggle to navigate their way around the seemingly endless tunnels that he and his friends visit. (Photo by Mike Deere/Caters News)