Botswana's Ross Branch competes during the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge stage two on March 7, 2022. (Photo by Edoardo Bauer/AFP Photo)

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)

Photographer Han Youngsoo captured the ordinary people of Korea as the country emerged from war into an age of prosperity. Han Youngsoo: Photographs of Seoul 1956–63 is at the International Center of Photography (ICP), Jersey City, New Jersey, until June 9, 2017. Here: Seoul, Korea. (Photo by Han Youngsoo/The Guardian)

In this April 4, 2017 photo, Zoologist Martha Llanes caresses baby chimpanzee Anuma II, left, while Ada hangs on to her leg, at Llanes' apartment in Havana, Cuba. She has forgiven them every transgression. It's hard to stay angry at a baby chimpanzee when it clambers up your leg and into your arms and plants a kiss on your cheek in a plea for forgiveness. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Blizzard in the High Peak, Derbyshire, by John Finney: “After a difficult journey in the snow, I made my way from Mam Tor down onto the Great Ridge. As the clouds got darker, I placed the tripod and camera at just the right angle to avoid snow getting onto the lens, and used a flash gun and a relatively slow shutter speed to highlight the fast motion of the blizzard”. Classic view, adult class – winner. (Photo by John Finney/Landscape Photographer of the Year)

Gisele Marie, a Muslim woman and professional heavy metal musician, holds her Gibson Flying V electric guitar as walks down stairs at the end of a fund raising concert for the Syrian refugees in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro November 8, 2015. Based in Sao Paulo, Marie, 42, is the granddaughter of German Catholics, and converted to Islam several months after her father passed away in 2009. Marie, who wears the burka, has been fronting her brothers' heavy metal band "Spectrus" since 2012. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Restive woman driving. (Photo by Cultura Creative (RF)/Alamy Stock Photo)

Full length portrait of female skier, Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, USA. (Photo by Anatoliy Gleb/Getty Images)