Participants jump into the water during the 114th edition of the Copa Nadal (Christmas Cup) swimming race in Barcelona's Port Vell on December 25, 2023. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered around 300 participants on Barcelona's Port Vell (old harbour). (Photo by Josep Lago/AFP Photo)

The British Ecological Society has announced the winners of its annual photography competition, Capturing Ecology. Taken by international ecologists and students, the winning images will be exhibited at the society’s joint annual meeting in Ghent in December. Here: Overall runner-up; Toucan, Mark Tatchell. (Photo by Mark Tatchell/British Ecological Society)

Hundreds of flamingos take flight in the Rift Valley in East Africa early September 2024. The birds gather in the region’s saline lakes to eat the blue-green algae that grows in abundance. The red-orange pigment in the algae is what gives them their distinctive pink plumage. They also use the site to breed. (Photo by Alexandre and Chloe Bes/Naturagency/Solent News)

(L-R) Zandea,18, and Jessica, 21, pose showing off their clothing backstage during a show featuring OPT jeans December 8, 2011 in Yangon, Myanmar. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)

An image taken with a drone shows beach umbrellas and deck chairs as beachgoers enjoy the hot weather in Scheveningen, the Netherlands, 24 July 2019. The Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute has issued an official warning due to high temperatures affecting the country as well as Western Europe. (Photo by Sem van der Wal/EPA/EFE)

These Eurasian Otters seem ready for any danger as they all stand up on thier hind legs alert to any threats near to the English river bank. Amateur photographer and retired MOD worker Tony Moir, 57, spotted the otters whilst looking for kingfishers to photograph near the river Trent in East Yorkshire, UK. He was able to take just a couple of pictures before the excited animals spotted the photographer and ran away. (Photo by Tony Moir/Solent News)

A person wearing a face mask holds a cat on Swanston Street after cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, January 29, 2020. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Australian ballet dancer Marilyn Rowe prepares to perform Swan Lake with the Australian Ballet at the Canberra Theatre in 1978. Rowe was appointed director of the Australian Ballet School in 1999. (Photo by John Crowther/The Guardian)