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)

In this Friday, January 6, 2017, photo, a North Korean woman working at the Kim Jong Suk Silk Mill looks up from her workstation in Pyongyang, North Korea. The silk mill, named after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's grandmother, is where 1,600 workers – mostly women – sort and process silkworms to produce silk thread that officials at the Pyongyang factory say is made into roughly 200 tons of silk a year. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

Mount Sinabung releasing volcanic ash, on February 04, 2017 Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. (Photo by Albert Damanik/Barcroft Images)

A displaced Pakistani girl collects recyclable goods from a garbage to earn living for her family in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, January 19, 2016. (Photo by B.K. Bangash/AP Photo)

Mananya Boonmee, 49, works on the make-up of a “child angel” doll at her house in Nonthaburi, Thailand, January 26, 2016. A craze for lifelike dolls thought to bring good luck is sweeping Thailand, reflecting widespread anxiety as the economy struggles and political uncertainty persists nearly two years after a coup. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and these striking images of 2017 are no exception. The photo highlights include incredible snapshots of the natural world as well as some awesome animal and human encounters. The vibrant gallery also shows thrill-seekers pushing themselves to the limit with breathtaking stunts captured in perfect clarity. The pictures have been taken by a host of photographers from around the world. Here: The two lion cubs singing their hearts out at Antelope park in Zimbabwe. (Photo by David Jenkins/Caters News Agency)

A woman lies to pose for her souvenir picture on the glass sightseeing platform on Shilin Gorge in Beijing, China, May 27, 2016. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man holds a chicken before he performs the Kaparot ritual, where white chickens are slaughtered as a symbolic gesture of atonement, ahead of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement in Bnei Brak, Israel in Bnei Brak October 9, 2016. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)