Human Connection Award: People and Planet Ocean – Winner – Steve Woods. A free diver interacts with a sperm whale among a cloud of sargassum weed, Dominica. (Photo by Steve Woods/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Situated in the Pacific Ocean some 620 miles (1,000 km) from the South American continent, these 19 islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique “living museum and showcase of evolution”. Photo: “Close-up. We had a juvenile Red-Footed Booby come visit us on the sun deck. I got some closeups with my ultrawide 11-16mm Tokina”. (Photo by Carl Fredrickson)

In this Feb. 17, 2017 photo, surfers walk to La Pampilla beach in Lima, Peru. Night surfing apparently came about in Lima because of a dispute with the capital municipality that in 2015 increased the width of a road that runs along the coast. The surfers protested the construction for months by camping on the asphalted beach area, but in the end the municipality prevailed, with support from the police. At the end of 2016, perhaps to win over the surfers, Lima's mayor set up beach lights that allows for night surfing. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

People play with foam at a water park in Yantai, Shandong province, China June 16, 2107. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Local residents walk in a flooded street during an evacuation from a flooded area after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine on June 7, 2023. (Photo by Ivan Antypenko/Reuters)

A one month old Turquoise colored Green Veiled Chameleon perches on a finger in the Cardin's Chameleons boothat Repticon 2014 Sunday, August 3, 2014 in Jacksonville, Fla. The vendor specializes in captive bred and born Veiled Chameleons and this particular specimen cost $40.00. The Repticon reptile and Exotic Animal show made its stop in Jacksonville over Saturday and Sunday offering a variety of cold blooded critters and related supplies for sale at the University Center on the University of North Florida campus. The show, which travels nationally stops in Jacksonville several times a year according to event vendor team leader Patty Healey. (Photo by Bob Self/AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union)

Aerial view of Taxodium Distichum in full blossom at a maze area of a wetland park on January 6, 2023 in Xiamen, Fujian Province of China. (Photo by Wu Wei/VCG via Getty Images)

Meet the star students of orangutan school – the unique rehab centre where orphaned apes are taught how to climb trees and survive in the wild without their mum and dad. (Photo by Caters News)