In this photo taken on Saturday, April 29, 2017, a candle is lit in a roadside shrine as the sun sets across a nearby lake of Pineia in the village of Souli, in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece. Made of iron sheeting, stone, wood, concrete or marble, tens of thousands of such shrines punctuate Greece’s roadside scenery, a common sight in a country that has one of the European Union’s worst road fatality rates. (Photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP Photo)

Elderly people attend an aquatic exercise at a private pool in Bangkok, Thailand, April 28, 2016. Many Thai families look after elderly relatives at a cost that countrywide adds up to just under a third of household income. The number of families facing this issue will balloon as the population ages at a rate among the fastest in Southeast Asia. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

A Brazilian drug gang member nicknamed Pilintra, 26, poses with a gun atop a hill overlooking a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. One of Brazil's main tourist destinations and a 2014 World Cup host city, Salvador suffers from an unprecedented wave of violence with an increase of over 250% in the murder rate, according to the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies (CEBELA). (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)

An elderly woman sits next to shanties as a Philippine Airlines (PAL) plane flies over a slum area in Paranaque city, Metro Manila, Philippines, 06 March 2025. According to the latest report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), poverty rate dropped to 15.5 percent in 2024 from 18.1 percent in 2021, with 17.54 million people living below the poverty line, a decrease of 2.4 million from the previous survey two years earlier. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA)

Indians pause to pray after lighting candles as they and other Christians gather to celebrate Christmas at the Sacred Heart Cathedral on Christmas Day, December 25, 2011 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images)

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)

In this January 3, 2018 photo several female Gelada baboons, also known as bleeding-heart baboons, cuddle with their youngs in order to keep warm at the Wilhelma zoo in Stuttgart, Germany. (Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/DPA via AP Photo)

A newborn baby giraffe shows its tongue at the Planckendael zoo in Mechelen, 25 kilometers North of Brussels, Tuesday, February 18, 2014. The calf was born on Valentines day, February 14, and has a heart shaped spot on the hip. (Photo by Yves Logghe/AP Photo)