An Afghan hawker selling balloons walks along a path in a ground in Chaman-e-Hozori area in Kabul on December 10, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP Photo)

In this August 17, 2016, photo, from left to right, Chhering Chodom, 60, Tashi Yangzom, 50, Lobsang Chhering, 27, and Dorje Tandup, 58, drink milk tea on the side of the road. For centuries, the sleepy valley nestled in the Indian Himalayas remained a hidden Buddhist enclave forbidden to outsiders. Enduring the harsh year-round conditions of the high mountain desert, the people of Spiti Valley lived by a simple communal code – share the Earth's bounty, be hospitable to neighbors, and eschew greed and temptation at all turns. That's all starting to change, for better or worse. (Photo by Thomas Cytrynowicz/AP Photo)

Residents wearing masks rest in the shade near a graffiti of a dragon, Friday, May 27, 2022, in Beijing. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

People holding umbrellas under strong wind walk pass a crosswalk as tropical storm Ma-on passes Hong Kong, Thursday, August 25, 2022. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/AP Photo)

“Honorable Mention”. An Indian rhinoceros, far from home and stuck inside with late-winter blues at the Toronto zoo. Photo location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo and caption by Stephen De Lisle/National Geographic Photo Contest)

People inspect a dead whale on the coast of Baracoa, Artemisa province, Cuba, Thursday, October 3, 2024. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Omar Proeza, dressed as Wolverine, proposes marriage to Victoria Nauri, dressed as Beast during a Comic Con in Caracas, Venezuela on November 17, 2024. (Photo by Gaby Oraa/Reuters)

Michael Olivant, a Times reader, saw a chance to contribute when a Dalmatian pelican landed on his wife’s head at Lake Kerkini in northern Greece in the first decade of February 2025. (Photo by Michael Olivant/The Times)