A woman poses for a souvenir photo with a cat statue on display at the Shenzhen Bay commercial district, in Shenzhen, China's Guangdong province, Monday, September 15, 2025. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

This spiky tenrec was spotted in Madagascar’s Mantadia National Park in the last decade of September 2025. Mostly nocturnal and rarely seen, it puffs out its spines when threatened. Spiky tenrecs are excellent swimmers — unlike most spiny mammals, some species of tenrec can forage in streams and rivers, using their spines for protection while hunting aquatic insects and small prey. (Photo by Dale Morris/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A woman walks past debris as Super Typhoon Ragasa hits the Central district in Hong Kong on September 24, 2025. Hong Kong's weather service issued the highest level of typhoon warning in the early hours, as Super Typhoon Ragasa brought powerful winds and lashing rain to the southern Chinese coast. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)

In a simpler time all a child or an adult needed to enjoy the outdoors was a ball and a stick. Or maybe an old tire tied to a high branch to fashion a swing. And the only instruction given to children was to “be home before dark”. Now there are iPads and computers and television screens and shrinking safe public spaces. But despite the distractions and limitations of space, these images show the charm of kicking a ball or skipping rope endures. Sometimes with modifications as a nod to changing times. Here: in this Saturday, June 20, 2015 photo, a boy runs while playing with a motorcycle wheel in Samugari, Ayacucho, Peru. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

“Artist of the light”. While shooting sunrise in the Vermilion lakes area of Banff national park, Canada, I met a fellow photographer on the scene. Most of the time, we tried not to get in each other's way, however, just by accident, I snapped a picture with him in it working on his tripod settings, and it turned out to be a great photo compared to my sunrise shots. (Photo and caption by Victor Liu/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

An officer wipes sweat off the face of a Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) honor guard soldier as they rehearse for a welcoming ceremony for New Zealand's Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Tuesday, July 21, 2015. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

A picture made available on 21 July 2016 shows a visitor having a meal from a toilet bowl at “Jamban Cafe” (lit. Toilet Cafe) in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, 16 July 2016. The cafe was created by a sanitation expert for education purposes to stress the importance of using a dedicated toilet and keeping it clean to prevent disease. (Photo by EPA/Purwanto)

In this September 16, 1983 file photo, actor and bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger shows off his new U.S. citizenship papers as Maria Shriver, daughter of Sargent and Eunice Shriver, looks on at the Shrine Auditorium in Hollywood, Calif. (Photo by Wally Fong/AP Photo)