Getting her tongue pierced was “exciting and scary” says a teen who succumbed to pressure from her best friend in Austin, Texas, February 22, 2008. This image is featured in National Geographic's exhibition “Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment”, on view at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre, Jan. 22 - Mar. 22, 2015. (Photo by Kitra Cahana/National Geographic)

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 burned vehicle sits among a destroyed home in the Mountain fire, Wednesday, November 6, 2024, near Camarillo, Calif. (Photo by Ethan Swope/AP Photo)

Riders of the Peloton approach a cobbled section near the Arenberg forrest at the 117th Paris-Roubaix cycle race in Wallers, France on April 12, 2019. (Photo by Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA)

The males, of the Oriental Garden species, are battling over territory in Solapur in the Maharashtra state, India on May 20, 2022. Occasionally, the tussle can be brutal, ending in a fatality with one lizard biting another to encourage them to retreat. (Photo by Ratnakar Hiremath/Solent News)

A water buffalo is pictured across from the Nahr Bin Omar oilfield in Iraq's southern province of Basra on July 18, 2022. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

Sеx worker Moira Mona wears a mask at her studio where she creates videos near Amsterdam, Netherlands on June 30, 2020. (Photo by Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)

Following a large air raid by German bombers, local people, coming out of their air raid shelters found a bus standing on end in a large crater, in Balham, London, October 15, 1940. (Photo by AP Photo)