Participants gather during a traditional hunting contest, involving tamed golden eagles and hawks, in Almaty, Kazakhstan on December 1, 2018. (Photo by Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters)

A girl carries on her head a pile of dried shrubs she gathered for cooking and heating, in Kabul, Afghanistan November 18, 2015. (Photo by Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

Police officers detain a man during a gathering in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny near the Wall of Grief monument to the victims of political repressions in Moscow, Russia on February 17, 2024. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A young worshipper holds a lotus flower as Buddhist monks gather at Wat Arun Buddhist temple during Asaha Bucha day in Bangkok on July 20, 2024. (Photo by Chanakarn Laosarakham/AFP Photo)

On the afternoon of the January 3, 2025, seagulls are gathering around a child holding shrimp crackers at Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea. (Photo by Dong-Hwan Kim)

Behaviour: Mammals category. Giant Gathering by Tony Wu, USA. Dozens of sperm whales mingled noisily off Sri Lanka’s northeast coast, stacked as far down as Tony could see. This was a congregation of dozens of social units, like a gathering of the clans. Aggregations like this could be a critical part of the whales’ rich social lives but are rarely reported. Some two thirds of the population was wiped out before commercial whaling was banned in 1986. This kind of major gathering could be “a sign that populations are recovering”, says Tony. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017)

Locals dressed as “Perchten”, a traditional demonic creature in German and Austrian Alpine folklore, parade through the town center during the annual “Rauhnacht” gathering on January 5, 2017 in Waldkirchen, Germany. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

A man wearing a Pikachu hat, a character from Pokemon, plays Pokemon Go during a gathering to celebrate “Pokemon Day” in Mexico City, Mexico August 21, 2016. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)