A reveller wearing a bearskin costume poses during the Bearskin Parade in Comanesti, Romania, on December 30, 2022. More than two hundred “bears” and dozens of musicians, surrounded by police and tourists, took part in the end-of-the-year parade. Young men and women dressed in real bearskin and traditional costumes paraded to chase away the evil spirits of the coming year. In all regions of Romania similar events exist but it is in this historical region of Moldova that they are the most developed. Comanesti has become the centre, attracting more and more troupes of dancers every year. (Photo by Daniel Mihailescu/AFP Photo)

Youths play football in a flooded field following rain in Jantho, Aceh province on November 24, 2025. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

An urban Opossum covered in light snow visits a suburban Chicago deck on December 10, 2025. (Photo by H Rick Bamman/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Volunteers wearing face masks, gloves and protective gear to protect against coronavirus, gather to clean an area of an outdoor book market set up at Red Square with GUM, State Department store, left, St. Basil's Cathedral, center, Spasskaya Tower, second with, and the Kremlin Wall, right, in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, June 6, 2020. Muscovites clad in face masks and gloves ventured into Red Square for an outdoor book market, a small sign of the Russian capital's gradual efforts to open up amid coronavirus concerns. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Sofia Valenzuela poses during a photo session for her quinceanera (coming of age of 15-year-olds) celebration amid coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread concerns, in Havana, Cuba, July 17, 2020. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Italian singer Benjamin Mascolo and American actress and model Bella Thorne attends the Milano Pride Event in Sempione Square on June 26, 2021 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Women atop a boat take a group photo as the U.S. Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron’s Blue Angels perform in the skies over Annapolis, Maryland, on May 22, 2024. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)