Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

Eight year-old Maya Mohammad Ali Merhi walks using prosthetic legs made by her father from tin cans in a camp for displaced people, in the northern Syrian province of Idlib on June 20, 2018. Maya and her father were both born without lower limbs. Unable to afford real prosthetic limbs, her father made her a pair out of tin cans filled with cotton and scrap pieces of cloth. Maya's family had to leave their home in the Aleppo province to flee battles. (Photo by Aaref Watad/AFP Photo)

A man runs away during a police round up of suspected drug addicts in Kabul, Afghanistan December 27, 2015. Afghan officials have opened a new drug treatment centre in an abandoned NATO military base in Kabul, in the latest attempt to stamp out the country's massive problem of drug abuse. Camp Phoenix, a former training camp on the edges of Kabul set up by the U.S. army in 2003, will take in around 1,000 homeless drug addicts who will receive food, medical attention and treatment, said Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz. (Photo by Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

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)

In this May 24, 2016 photo, a young boy descends the Qullqip'unqu mountain looking out at the tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered to celebrate the three-day festival Qoyllur Rit’i, translated from the Quechua language as Snow Star, in the Andean Sinakara Valley, in Peru's Cusco region. The celebration that mixes Catholic and indigenous beliefs honors Jesus as well as the area’s glacier, which is considered sacred among some indigenous people. While the native celebration is far older, the Christian part of the ritual stretches back to the 1700s, when Jesus is said to have appeared to a young shepherd in the form of another boy. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Villagers from Jiexi Jiantan village perform a ritual of “Zha Laoye”, or “Cracking local spirits”, in Chaoshan, Guangdong Province, China, 10 February 2019. Jiexi Jiantan Village celebrates the annual custom of “Zha Laoye” where Laoye are local spirits. Every third day of the lunar New Year, statues of local spirits known as the “Thousand-mile Eye” Laoye and “Ear Following the Wind” Laoye are brought out to the village committee to receive incensed tea offered by believers. (Photo by EPA/EFE/ZNSEN)

A French riot police officer is surrounded by flames, during a demonstration against the controversial labour reforms of the French government in Paris on September 15, 2016. Opponents of France's controversial labour reforms took to the streets on September 15, 2016 for the 14th time in six months in a last-ditch bid to quash the measures that lost the Socialist government crucial support on the left. Scores of flights in and out of France were cancelled as air traffic controllers went on strike to try to force the government to repeal the changes that became law in July. (Photo by Thomas Samson/AFP Photo)

Meet the world's smoothest cuddliest hedgehog. Names after brave hero, but Nelson is completely bald so when curled up he looks like an egg. Doesn't have a single prickle or strand of hair. Thought to be suffering a stress related alopecia following a trauma in the wild. Volunteers have been massaging him for half an hour a day for the last year to encourage spikes to grow. Now given up but he still gets daily massages because he enjoys them so much and to keep his cuddle skin soft and smooth. Unlike his namesake Nelson could not defend himself so will live out his days at the Foxy Lodge Wildlife Rescue in Hemsby, England. (Photo by Jeremy Durkin)