A lion rests in the Nairobi National Park, Kenya on January 6, 2021. (Photo by Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)

A mahout walks next to his elephant through a busy street in Horana, a suburb of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on March 23, 2021. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP Photo)

With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)

A man wearing a protective face mask walks past traditional large puppet figures called “Ondel-ondel”, also donning face masks and displayed along a sidewalk of a main road, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases surge in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 30, 2021. (Photo by Willy Kurniawan/Reuters)

Made Mohon, the operation manager of Sangeh Monkey Forest, feeds macaques with donated peanuts during a feeding time at the popular tourist attraction site in Sangeh, Bali Island, Indonesia, Wednesday, September 1, 2021. (Photo by Firdia Lisnawati/AP Photo)

A farmer waits for customers at a wholesale vegetable market in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh state, India, Sunday, July 25, 2021. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Students wearing masks as a precaution amid the spread of COVID-19 put away a Cuban flag so it does not get wet in the rain on their first day of school after months without face-to-face classes in Havana, Cuba, Monday, November 8, 2021. As Cuba approaches the announced date of Nov. 15 for the reopening of the entire country to the world, getting children back to school is one of its priorities. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Afghan internally-displaced girls plays with dolls near their tents at Shaidayee refugee camp in Injil district of Herat province on February 20, 2022. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)