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)

Photographer Han Youngsoo captured the ordinary people of Korea as the country emerged from war into an age of prosperity. Han Youngsoo: Photographs of Seoul 1956–63 is at the International Center of Photography (ICP), Jersey City, New Jersey, until June 9, 2017. Here: Seoul, Korea. (Photo by Han Youngsoo/The Guardian)

An abandoned protection masks in the deserted building near bypass channel for cooling at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Exclusion Zone, Ukraine, April 5, 20177. The Chernobyl nuclear accident occurred on 26 April 1986 in the No.4 light water graphite moderated reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat. An estimated 47,000 people of the city of Pripyat were evacuated after the explosion in 1986. (Photo by Vitaliy Holovin/Corbis via Getty images)

Palestinian barber Ramadan Odwan styles and straightens the hair of a customer with fire at his salon in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip February 2, 2017. In Ramadan Odwan's barbershop in Gaza, hair isn't just blow-dried, it's blowtorch-dried. “People have gone crazy about it, many people are curious to go through the experience and they are not afraid”, he told Reuters. “People here love adventures”. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Girls of the Long Horn Miao ethnic minority group wear headdresses as they prepare gather for Tiaohua or Flower Festival as part of the Lunar New Year on February 6, 2017 in Longga village, Guizhou province, southern China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Belgian-British teenager Zara Rutherford closes the canopy of her Shark Ultralight airplane as she prepares to take off at the Kortrijk-Wevelgem airfield in Wevelgem, Belgium, Wednesday, August 18, 2021. A Belgian-British teenager took to the skies Wednesday in her quest to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo. Nineteen-year-old Zara Rutherford took off from an airstrip in Wevelgem, Belgium, in an ultralight plane looking to break the record set by American aviator Shaesta Waiz, who set the world benchmark at age 30 in 2017. (Photo by Virginia Mayo/AP Photo)

A Nepalese woman wearing a mask as a precaution against the coronavirus stands next to the clothing store in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

In this March 22, 1975 file photo, a refugee clutches a baby as a government helicopter gunship carries them away near Tuy Hoa, Vietnam, 235 miles northeast of Saigon. They were among thousands fleeing from Communist advances. AP Photographer Nick Ut will be retiring from the AP in March 2017 after 51 years of taking photographs from the front lines of the Vietnam War to the red carpets of Hollywood. (Photo by Nick Ut/AP Photo)