A Maasai boy bites a bull's heart during an initiation into an age group ceremony near the town of Bisil, Kajiado county, Kenya, August 23, 2018. Thousands of Kenyan boys had a blessing of milk and beer sprayed on them as part of a rare Maasai ethnic community initiation ceremony to mark their passing into early manhood. (Photo by Baz Ratner/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)

“Belarus riot police detained scores of demonstrators at a protest rally against President Alexander Lukashenko. Rallies against Lukashenko's rule are rare in the tightly-policed ex-Soviet republic, but protest calls on social networking sites have multiplied in recent weeks as a severe currency crisis has brought economic hardship. Demonstrators gathered peacefully, simply applauding in a coordinated act of protest”. – Af.Reuters.com (Photo by Anton Motolko; Belarus, Minsk; June 22, 2011)

The mystifying flow of motion. We can rarely appreciate its beauty. Though there are ways to capture it on film, allowing us to marvel at its complexity. Stephen Orlando is a photographer who takes pleasure highlighting the magnificence of aquatic sports by using the brilliance of light. The beauty of the images that he creates comes not only from the composition of the photo, but also from the way Stephen managed to show the color transitions between each stroke of the kayaker. Even the rapids do not stand in the way of the marvelous dance of light. (Photo by Stephen Orlando)

There is nothing more endearing than seeing true friendship and love. Especially, if it as improbable as that of a big dog and a tiny kitten. Somehow, animals feel when they are dealing with a baby. For example, no matter how much a toddler will tug on the tail of a cat and play roughly with it, it will never or very rarely fight back. This set of pictures taken by Jessie Pon shows a tiny kitten mistaking an adult golden retriever for his mother. Though it may hurt the dog’s nose with its sharp claws, the dog does nothing to harm the kitty. On the contrary, it’s watching over the kitty-cat as if it were her own puppy. (Photo by Jessie Pon)

Yoandri Hernandez Garrido, 37, proudly displays his 12 fingers in Baracoa, Guantanamo province, Cuba. His condition, known as polydactyly, is relatively common, but it's rare for extra digits to be so perfect.

Polydactyly or polydactylism (from Ancient Greek πολύς (polus) "many" + δάκτυλος (daktulos) "finger"), also known as hyperdactyly, is a congenital physical anomaly in humans, dogs, and cats having supernumerary fingers or toes. Polydactyly is the opposite of oligodactyly (fewer fingers or toes).

These images offer a rare glimpse of life within remote Brazilian tribes. Award winning photographer Ricardo, 47, said: “The pictures show the traditional way of life of these people who live in harmony with nature. The photos provide an overview of the contemporary situation of the indigenous people in Brazil”. Here: Bej indian in the Xingu river, state of Mato Grosso, Brazil on December 20, 2015 .(Photo by Ricardo Stuckert/Caters News Agency)

People use snowshoes during a tour of the Great Kemeri Bog, Latvia, October 17, 2015. The Kemeri bog is more than 8,000 years old and is one of the largest dry moss swamps in the Baltics. A more than decade-long joint restoration of the bog by the European Union and the Latvian government helped the bog recover its high moss marshes, damp black alder forests, floodplain meadows and seaside lakes – features now considered rare in Europe due to industrialisation. (Photo by Ints Kalnins/Reuters)