From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Tami Varma, right, and her brother Robin, the grandchildren of Devendra Varma, a scholar of English gothic tales and an expert in vampire lore, pose in coffins at the Bran Castle, in Bran, Romania, Monday, October 31, 2016. A Canadian brother and sister are passing Halloween night curled up in red velvet coffins in the Transylvanian castle that inspired the Dracula legend, the first time in 70 years anyone has spent the night in the gothic fortress, after they bested 88,000 people who entered a competition hosted by Airbnb to get the chance to dine and sleep at the castle in Romania. A portrait of medieval prince Vlad the Impaler is placed on the wall. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

“The Rothschild Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) is among the most endangered giraffe subspecies with only a few hundred members in the wild. It is named after the famous family of the Tring Museum's founder, Lord Walter Rothschild, and is also known as the Baringo Giraffe, after the Lake Baringo area of Kenya, or as the Ugandan Giraffe. All of those that are living in the wild are in protected areas in Kenya and Uganda. (Recently it has been proposed that the Rothschild Giraffe is actually a separate species from other giraffes and not a giraffe subspecies).” – Wikipedia

Photo: Margaret, the 10-day-old Giraffestands beside Chester Zoo keeper Tim Rowlands on January 30, 2008, in Chester, England. Margaret is the first Rothschild giraffe born at the zoo. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

“Tomotaka Takahashi (born March 27, 1975), roboticist and founder of Kyoto University's ROBO-GARAGE since 1999, creates humanoid robots known for their smooth, fluid motions and sleek appearance. Creating a number of humanoid robots entirely by himself, from concept through to production, Takahashi's designs have been featured in art exhibitions celebrating the creation of Astroboy, Time Magazine's Coolest Inventions of 2004, and promotions for Bandai, Panasonic, and Pepsi”. – Wikipedia

Photo: One of Japan's leading robot creator's Tomotaka Takahashi holds Robo Garage's Chroino and FT during the Robo_Japan 2008 Press Preview at Pacifico Yokohama on October 10, 2008 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images)

Pupils look at an orphaned baby elephant at the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage within the Nairobi National Park, near Kenya's capital Nairobi October 15, 2014. The orphanage under the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is operated by Daphne Sheldrick, wife of late famous naturalist David William Sheldrick. The orphaned elephants raised by the trust will be returned to join the undomesticated elephant population in Tsavo National Park, where David was the founder warden from 1948 to 1976, when they mature, usually between eight to 10 years old. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A frog sits on a leaf and instead of seeing a reflection of itself in the water below, it sees a snail, attached to the bottom of the leaf, in a fish tank in Vietnam. (Photo by Duong Quoc Dinh/Solent Ne/SIPA Press)

Chinese artist Kong Ning walks in her costume made of hundreds of orange plastic blowing horns during her art performance raising awareness of the hazardous smog in front of the Drum tower in a historical part of Beijing on a very polluted day December 7, 2015. Kong, whose works include themes related to China's air pollution problem, named her new performance “The Orange Horns Bride Marries the Blue Sky” and presented it dressed in orange, the colour of the second highest pollution alert level issued again in Beijing as hazardous smog blankets the capital. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A close-up shot of dews of a soldier fly on August 2014, in Banten, Indonesia. Wildlife photographer takes incredible close-up images of tiny bugs. Yudy Sauw has captured close-up images of creepy crawlies – revealing their disturbing faces. The insects have an assortment bulging eyes and sharp pincers and look grotesque in the face-to-face shots. The miniature-models include a soldier fly, a red ant and a longhorn beetle. The 33-year-old photographed the bugs at his home studio in Banten, Indonesia, placing them 2-10 centimeters away from the camera. (Photo by Yudy Sauw/Barcroft Media)