Afghans pass a clothing storein Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, October 12, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/AP Photo)

Migrant workers and their families board an overcrowded passenger train, after government imposed restrictions on public gatherings in attempts to prevent spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Mumbai, India, March 21, 2020. (Photo by Prashant Waydande/Reuters)

Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A meerkat stands guard as her pups cuddle at Mountain Zebra National Park, South Africa early November 2025. (Photo by Nadine Leonard/Two Point O Media)

Elena Reid of USA looks on with bloody face due to a cut during the Women's WIBF Flyweight Championship fight between Regina Halmich and Elena Reid at the Boerderlandhalle on December 3, 2005 in Magdeburg, Germany. (Photo by Christian Fischer/Getty Images)

Australian Aboriginal hunter Marcus Gaykamangu of the Yolngu people, carries an Australian native lizard called a goanna over his shoulder as he walks away from a billabong near the “out station” of Yathalamarra, located on the outksirts of the community of Ramingining in East Arnhem Land November 22, 2014. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

A hare runs on a small road as the sun rises in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, June 12, 2023. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

People attend The Night of Ancient Bonfires event in Saulkrasti, Latvia on August 27, 2022. During The Night of Ancient Bonfires people light bonfires along the coastline of the Baltic Sea. (Photo by Ints Kalnins/Reuters)