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)

Street animators wearing fancy costumes take a break on a bench in a park in Stavropol, Russia on March 14, 2021. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

A girl feeds the new-born kitten as the family, living in tent city, adopted two kittens, found under the rubble, after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit in Hatay, Turkiye on March 15, 2023. (Photo by Sergen Sezgin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

An actor playing the role of the Conductor, poses for a photograph alongside the Polar Express Train Ride at the Swanage Railway in Dorset, UK on Thursday, November 16, 2023, a festive-themed train journey based on the Polar Express book and film, which invites visitors to travel in their pyjamas and dressing gowns as they journey from Swanage to the “North Pole”. (Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images)

Young gorillas monkey around with zoo visitors, sticking their tongues out and pressing their faces against the glass, February 2025. Mobi, 1, and Gaia, 10 months, are half sisters and often push each other away at the glass to get the attention of their observers at the Prague Zoo. (Photo by Lucie Stepnickova/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Two brides kiss during their wedding ceremony to each other at the wedding registry office in St. Petersburg November 7, 2014. The two St. Petersburg women married in the official city ceremony last week, seemingly circumventing Russia's ban on same-s*x marriages. One of the brides was born a man but is undergoing hormone therapy and considers herself a woman. Though her male passport identity ensured the marriage was legal by Russian law, a St. Petersburg lawmaker has vowed to nullify their wedding. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

“Suri tribes boys are collecting the blood of a cow in a calabash the vein of the animal was opened with a bow and an arrow. Like most pastoralists the Surma people are drinking fresh blood which is from the cow vein. Only some minutes after the wound at the vein is closed again the animals are back with their herd”. (Photo and caption by Anthony Pappone)