The British Ecological Society has announced the winners of its annual photography competition, Capturing Ecology. Taken by international ecologists and students, the winning images will be exhibited at the society’s joint annual meeting in Ghent in December. Here: Overall runner-up; Toucan, Mark Tatchell. (Photo by Mark Tatchell/British Ecological Society)

A sea otter in the Great Bear Rainforest, off the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada in the second decade of December 2024, appeared to be enjoying a relaxing swim as it preened its fur, the densest of any mammal. (Photo by Max Waugh/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A duck salesman parades his stock to commuters at a busy station in Dhaka, Bangladesh on May 23, 2018. (Photo by Nazmul Hasan Khan/Caters News Agency)

A United States Border Patrol agent on horseback tries to stop a Haitian migrant from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on September 19, 2021. The United States said Saturday it would ramp up deportation flights for thousands of migrants who flooded into the Texas border city of Del Rio, as authorities scramble to alleviate a burgeoning crisis for President Joe Biden's administration. (Photo by Paul Ratje/AFP Photo)

“Warming up”. This photo I capture in the early afternoon, the animal species of lemurs fly. Photo location: Sambas, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Hendy Mp/National Geographic Photo Contest)

While many of us would pay good money for a spa mud bath, these fortunate hippos in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, have nature to thank as they take a plunge in a lagoon in the second decade of February 2024. (Photo by Dimitar Nedelchev/Solent News)

Northern lights (Aurora borealis) glow brightly over an Inupiaq fish camp along the arctic coast in North Slope, Alaska. (Photo by Steven Kazlowski/Barcroft Media)

A mountain jerboa, which is taken under protection after his mother dies, is seen at Yuzuncu Yil University Wild Animal Protection and Rehabilitation Center in Van, Turkiye on June 24, 2022. (Photo by Mesut Varol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)