“Natural History” is a series of completely candid single exposure images that merge the living and the dead to create allegorical narratives of our troubled co-existence with nature. Ghost-like reflections of modern visitors viewing wildlife dioramas are juxtaposed against the antique taxidermied subjects housed behind thick glass, their faces molded into permanent expressions of fear, aggression or fleeting passivity. After decades of over-hunting, climate change, poaching and destruction of habitat, many of these long dead diorama specimens now represent endangered or completely extinct species”. – Traer Scott. (Photo by Traer Scott)

The 26th annual Visa Pour l’Image, the “Cannes Film Festival” of photojournalism kicks off, filling the French city of Perpignan with more than 3,000 of the world’s best photojournalists and photo editors, along with agencies from around the world. This year’s Visa Pour l’Image showcases 26 exhibitions around the city. Photo: Christians looting a Muslim shop in the “Combattants” district of Bangui. (Photo by Pierre Terdjman/Paris Match)

Is it a leaf? Is it tree bark? No, it’s the Satanic leaf-tailed gecko. Cleverly disguised as a rotting leaf, Madagascar’s camouflage king has red eyes, pointy horns and a taste for night hunting: it’s nature’s most devilish deceiver. The twisted body and veiny skin echo the detail of a dry leaf, which ensures the gecko blends in with its forest home. The mottled tail appears to have sections missing, as though it has withered over time. This mini-monster epitomises survival of the fittest, having adapted gradually to become today’s extraordinary leaf impersonator. (Photo by Thomas Marent/ARDEA)

People and Nature category winner: Why did the sloth cross the road? by Andrew Whitworth (Osa Conservation and University of Glasgow), taken in Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. “I was driving out from the Osa Peninsula, located on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica on a dark, stormy day. This female three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus) had luckily just about made it across the road, and the drivers of the Toyota on this occasion had spotted her in good time”. (Photo by Andrew Whitworth/2019 British Ecological Society Photography Competition)

An egret in the second decade of April 2025 cools off in the Florida heat by gular fluttering, rapidly vibrating its throat muscles with an open beak. The mechanism helps to dissipate heat through evaporation. (Photo by Ronen Tivony/ZUMA Press Wire/Alamy Live News)

British holidaymaker Sean Chinn captures a crocodile on camera during a dive at the Jardines de la Reina marine park in Caribbean Sea, Cuba. (Photo by Sean Chinn/Caters News Agency)

A handout photo made available by the World Press Photo (WPP) organization on 13 February 2017 shows a picture by Rossiya Segodnya photographer Valery Melnikov that won the Long-Term Projects – First Prize award of the 60th annual World Press Photo Contest, it was announced by the WPP Foundation in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on 13 February 2017. Caption: Civilians escape from a fire at a house destroyed by an air attack in the Luhanskaya village. (Photo by Valery Melnikov/EPA/Rossiya Segodnya/World Press Photo)

Fashionistas wait for the start of Johannesburg Fashion Week 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, November 8, 2023. (Photo by Jerome Delay/AP Photo)