Mechanic and welder Sergei Kulagin, 32, strengthens the bracing of a spider sculpture, made by Kulagin, during a demonstration on the wall of an automobile repair workshop in the town of Divnogorsk outside Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, October 15, 2014. Enthusiast Kulagin, who works as a mechanic of an automobile service station, created about 20 sculptures made of used car parts and components during his non-working hours. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A Tibetan mastiff dog is displayed for sale at a mastiff show in Baoding, Hebei province, south of Beijing on March 9, 2013. Fetching prices up to around 750,000 USD, mastiffs have become a prized status-symbol amongst China's wealthy, with rich buyers across the country sending prices skyrocketing. Owners say the mastiffs, descendents of dogs used for hunting by nomadic tribes in central Asia and Tibet are fiercely loyal and protective. Breeders still travel to the Himalayan plateau to collect young puppies, although many are unable to adjust to the low altitudes and die during the journey. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A woman offers a prayer at Pashupatinath Temple during the Teej festival in Kathmandu, Nepal September 4, 2016. During this festival, married Hindu women observe day-long fast and pray for a happy married life while those unmarried pray for a good husband. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Fog covers the African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal on February 17, 2021. (Photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

The Big Island's Mauna Loa Volcano erupts on November 28, 2022 on the Island of Hawaii. For the first time in almost 40 years, the biggest active volcano in the world erupted prompting an emergency response on the Big Island. (Photo by Andrew Richard Hara/Getty Images)

Second place, Nature: double trapping. Picture taken in the Brazilian Pantanal ... when I downloaded the CF did not want to believe it ... The nature knows we always give magnificent events but sometimes extraordinary. (Photo by Massimiliano Bencivenni/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

The Tidal Basin in Washington overflows the banks with the rain from Tropical Storm Ophelia, Saturday, September 23, 2023. The National Weather Service has issued a coastal flooding warning for the area. (Photo by J. David Ake/AP Photo)

Among the fish populations that could be harmed by the Xayaburi dam in Laos is the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world’s largest freshwater fish. The fish, which grows to 650 pounds and about 10 feet long, is only found in the Mekong River. It is migratory, moving between downstream habitats in Cambodia upstream to northern Thailand and Laos each year to spawn. Some experts fear the Xayaburi dam could block the migration and drive the giant catfish to extinction. (Photo by Courtesy of Zeb Hogan/University of Nevada, Reno)