People and Nature category winner: Why did the sloth cross the road? by Andrew Whitworth (Osa Conservation and University of Glasgow), taken in Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. “I was driving out from the Osa Peninsula, located on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica on a dark, stormy day. This female three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus) had luckily just about made it across the road, and the drivers of the Toyota on this occasion had spotted her in good time”. (Photo by Andrew Whitworth/2019 British Ecological Society Photography Competition)

Tourists take a “selfie” as demonstrators burn a trash container during a May Day rally in Barcelona, Spain, on May 1, 2014. Tens of thousands of workers marked May Day in European cities with a mix of anger and gloom over austerity measures imposed by leaders trying to contain the eurozone's intractable debt crisis. (Photo by Manu Fernandez/Associated Press)

A clothing shop displays its merchandise in the rebel-controlled city of Idlib, Syria November 7, 2015. (Photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)

A vendor prepares paan, a betel nut-based chewable stimulant at a flower market in Kolkata, India, January 18, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

Little owl chicks in Northumberland, UK on August 19, 2018. Strutting up and down and barrelling through the air, these Little Owl chicks will soon be fending for themselves. The intense little birds were snapped by wildlife photographer Bill Doherty in his native Northumberland. The chicks have about seven or eight weeks to learn their survival skills before their parents drive them away to fend for themselves. (Photo by Bill Doherty/South West News Service)

October winner. “A burst of the aurora borealis over Kirkjufell, taken in September 2016. This shot has been a holy grail for me and was finally captured after many trips”. MICK RYAN, JUDGE: Iceland is a hotspot for aurora photography and this composition of the symmetric, free-standing Kirkjufell and the trident waterfall is much-sought after. If you can time your visit when the aurora “kp” index is high and know the settings for nighttime aurora images, you may end up with a beautiful photograph like this. (Photo by DВ/The Guardian)

An Iowa State Patrol trooper works the scene of an overturned semi truck along the westbound shoulder of Interstate 80 near Anita, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, after a band of intense weather crossed through the area. A powerful storm system is blowing through the Great Plains and Midwest, combining with unusually warm temperatures to close highways and prompt numerous tornado warnings. (Photo by Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP Photo)

Hippo keeper Atthapon Nundee, 31, takes pictures of a two-month-old female pygmy hippo named “Moo Deng” who has recently become a viral internet sensation, at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province, Thailand, on September 16, 2024. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)