In this March 30, 2020, photo, Zandile Mlotshwa, 21, cashier at Spar supermarket in the Norwood suburb of Johannesburg, counts her cash at the end of her shift. From South Africa to Italy to the U.S., grocery workers – many in low-wage jobs – are manning the front lines amid worldwide lockdowns, their work deemed essential to keep food and critical goods flowing. (Photo by Jerome Delay/AP Photo)

Poppy, a female Crowned sifaka, inspects a photographer's camera in the enclosure at the zoo of Mulhouse, eastern France, on March 5, 2019. The Crowned sifaka is a critically endangered species from Madagascar. (Photo by Sebastien Bozon/AFP Photo)

A dragonfly rests on a leaf in Hinojedo, Cantabria, northern Spain, 01 June 2023. (Photo by Pedro Puente Hoyos/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Women perform in the traditional “Morenada” dance during Carnival, in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. The unique festival features spectacular folk dances, extravagant costumes, beautiful crafts, lively music, and up to 20 hours of continuous partying with lots of tourists, drawing crowds of up people annually. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

Participants of the “Torture Ships” walk to the pier where the Ship of lacquer and leather will undock with hundreds watching in Friedrichshafen, Germany on June 23, 2018. (Photo by Felix Kästle/DPA)

“Don't Leave Any Food On Your Plate”. The giraffes at Nairobi's Giraffe Manor are totally at home with humans. They will eat out of your hand, or even off your plate. Photo location: Giraffe Manor, Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Gavin Werbeloff/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A group of young men use a selfie stick to take a picture of themselves in shallow waters known as the first cataract of the River Nile outside Khartoum, Sudan, May 22, 2015. In Sudan, which faces insurgences in the western region of Darfur and along its border with breakaway South Sudan, as well as double-digit inflation and high unemployment, life goes on for young people in the capital Khartoum. (Photo by Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters)

Bloodthirsty by Thomas P. Peschak, Germany/South Africa — winner, Behaviour: birds. When rations run short on Wolf Island, in the remote northern Galápagos, the sharp-beaked ground finches become vampires. Their sitting targets are Nazca boobies and other large birds. The finches rely on a scant diet of seeds and insects, which regularly dries up, so they drink blood to survive. ‘I’ve seen more than half a dozen finches drinking from a single Nazca booby,’ says Tom. Rather than leave their nests the boobies tolerate the vampires, and the blood loss doesn’t seem to cause permanent harm. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)