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)

A Parisian dances at the installation Electronica, a unique look at the great classics of 20th century electronic music, played under the vaults at the Collège des Bernardins part of Nuit Blanche, an annual evening festival of culture and art on October 03, 2020 in Paris, France. Scaled down this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival is split across the left and right banks of the city with many outdoor exhibitions to enable social distancing. (Photo by Kiran Ridley/Getty Images)

The endangered antipodean albatross, which is often caught in fishing nets, won most first-choice votes out of the more than 55,000 votes cast during the 2020 New Zealand’s bird of the year competition. (Photo by Wildestanimal/Getty Images)

A man poses for a picture in front of Christmas lights decoration at the Francisco Morazan square in San Salvador, El Salvador, December 22, 2020. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

A Shariah law official whips a woman who is convicted of prostitution during a public caning outside a mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Friday, April 20, 2018. Indonesia's deeply conservative Aceh province on Friday caned several unmarried couples for showing affection in public and two women for prostitution before an enthusiastic audience of hundreds. The canings were possibly the last to be carried out before large crowds in Aceh after the province's governor announced earlier this month that the punishments would be moved indoors. (Photo by Heri Juanda/AP Photo)

A Rohingya refugee girl named Rufia Begum, aged 9, poses for a photograph as she wears thanaka paste at Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, March 31, 2018. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

James Brady and a police officer are seen lying on the ground after being shot while the suspect John Hinckley Jr. is apprehended,at right, moments after the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, Washington, DC, March 30, 1981. (Photo by Dirck Halstead/Getty Images)

Students from Cambridge University in England make their way home along Trinity Lane after celebrating the end of the academic year at a May Ball in Trinity College on June 18, 2019. (Photo by Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images)