A former Gurkha (special forces soldier), Nirmal Purja, takes a selfie at the start of his attempt to scale the world’s 14 highest peaks in seven months to break a 31-year-old record. Nirmal Purja, known as Nims, aims to smash the current record – which stands at seven years, 11 months and 14 days – set by Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka. On the way, he also plans to defeat at least seven speed world records on mountains over 8,000m high. (Photo by Nirmal Purja/PA Wire Press Association)

An orphaned giraffe nuzzling a wildlife keeper at Sarara camp in Kenya, one of 70 pictures being sold by Prints for Nature (printsfornature.com) to raise money for work by the Conservation International charity. This giraffe was rehabilitated and returned to the wild, as a number of others have done before him. Right now, giraffe are undergoing what has been referred to as a silent extinction. Current estimates are that giraffe populations across Africa have dropped 40 percent in three decades, plummeting from approximately 155,000 in the late 1980s to under 100,000 today. (Photo by Ami Vitale/National Geographic)

A protester wearing improvised protective headgear walks away from a cloud of tear gas on July 18, 2021 in Bangkok, Thailand. Student protesters called for a demonstration demanding the resignation of Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-Cha, despite a ban on gatherings because of the country's current Covid-19 outbreak, and folded a demand for better action in combating the virus into their demands. (Photo by Sirachai Arunrugstichai/Getty Images)

Turkish National athlete Sahika Ercumen persists in her preparations for the dive along the shores of Karamagara Bay as she will dive to break the 105-meter world record in the variable weight category without fins on the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic in Hatay, Turkiye on October 15, 2023. The national athlete is determined to exceed the 105-meter world record currently held by Serbian diver Lena Balta in the variable weight category without fins. (Photo by Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A jaguar (Panthera onca) growls at the Mata Ciliar association, an organization for the conservation of biodiversity, in Jundiai, Sao Paulo state, Brazil on May 29, 2025. Twenty-five pumas and ten jaguars are currently recovering at the Brazilian Center for the Conservation of Neotropical Felines at Mata Ciliar, a site as large as 40 football fields where monkeys, wild dogs, maned wolves, ocelots, and other regional animals are also rehabilitated. (Photo by Nelson Almeida/AFP Photo)

A instructor (2nd L) from the Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy assists participants of a monofin swimming summer workshop as they practise floating in the water of a private pool in Paranaque city, metro Manila April 5, 2014. The Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy workshops, which were originally conducted on the beaches of Boracay Island, central Philippines, currently cost 1,800 pesos per person ($40) for a two-hour session. (Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

Herring worth millions in exports float dead in Kolgrafafjordur, a small fjord on the northern part of Snaefellsnes peninsula, west Iceland, for the second time in two months. Between 25,000 and 30,000 tons of fish died in December and more now, due to lack of oxygen in the fjord thought to have been caused by a landfill and bridge constructed across the fjord in December 2004. The current export value of the estimated 10,000 tons of herring amounts to $ 9.8 million, according to the newspaper “Morgunbladid”. (Photo by Brynjar Gauti/Associated Press)

A person dressed as an astronaut walks past a man stopping traffic on a pedestrian crossing outside the Sydney Exhibition Centre September 13, 2014 where the science-fiction convention called “Oz Comic-Con” is currently being held. The two-day convention showcases “pop culture”, and includes appearances by actors from science-fiction movies and television shows. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)