A Guinean kid poses for a photo in Conakry, Guinea on July 23, 2021. Children, most of whom start working after a certain age to support their families, have their hair braided in different ways and decorated with colorful beads on all special days, especially on holidays, despite these difficult conditions. (Photo by Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A man walks pat sculptures with face masks on along an alley in Beijing on August 3, 2021. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)

A wave carrying plastic waste and other rubbish washes up on a beach in Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand on January 19, 2021. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

American rapper Saweetie performs at the European MTV Awards in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, November 14, 2021. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP Photo)

Christmas baubles shaped as Santa Clauses wearing protective masks are pictured amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Eichenau, Germany, November 26, 2021. (Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters)

Looking for love by Tony Wu, USA. Highly commended, Animal Portraits. “Accentuating his mature appearance with pastel colours, protruding lips and an outstanding pink forehead, this Asian sheepshead wrasse sets out to impress females and see off rivals, which he will head-butt and bite, near Japan’s remote Sado Island. Individuals start out as females, and when they reach a certain age and size – up to a metre (more than 3 feet) long – can transform into males. Long-lived and slow-growing, the species is intrinsically vulnerable to overfishing”. (Photo by Tony Wu/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

A man sleeps at Beirut's Corniche, a seaside promenade, in Lebanon May 2, 2016. (Photo by Alia Haju/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)