“When I was 8 years old, my parents paid a smuggler to take me across the Himalayas, a weekslong walk over the mountains from Tibet to India. It was a trek that tens of thousands of other Tibetans have taken since the Dalai Lama fled a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. My parents must have had their reasons to send me here; they must have had the best of intentions. But 18 years later, I still don't know why they did it. They are not political people. They are small farmers who raise barley and a few yak in a rural area not far from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. I have not seen them since I left...”. – Tsering Topgyal via The Associated Press. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

“Secrets of the Whales”. Skerry’s photographs celebrate the lives and culture of whales, illuminating recent research and their diverse behaviours. His latest work focuses on four key species: sperm whales, humpbacks, orca and beluga whales. Humpback whales bubble-net feeding off the coast of Alaska. They work cooperatively to feed on herring by blowing a perfect ring of bubbles underwater to form a net encircling the fish. The whales then swim up through the centre of the bubble net with their mouths open. (Photo by Brian Skerry/National Geographic Photo/Visa pour l'Image)

Kalep, 5, in a bear costume, participates in parade where his father Johnny Lopez was the Elder Angel, during the Oruro Carnival, a traditional celebration that can be traced back to the indigenous Ito festival, in Oruro, Bolivia February 26, 2022. (Photo by Wara Vargas/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)

His own space suit, with oxygen tank, doesn't make Barney the monkey any happier as he and actor Adam West view the situation in their space capsule in Hollywood on January 24, 1964. Barney, a South American woolly monkey, is blasted into space with West, as an astronaut, in a new movie, “Robinson Crusoe on Mars”. (Photo by AP Photo)

A woman walks on the stairs decorated with an image of two hands shaking to form the shape of the Korean Peninsula to support the upcoming inter- Korean summit, in downtown Seoul on September 17, 2018. South Korean President Moon Jae- in will fly to the North Korean capital on September 18, for his third summit with the North' s leader Kim Jong Un as a rapid diplomatic thaw takes hold on the peninsula despite stalled progress in denuclearisation talks between Pyongyang and Washington. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je/AFP Photo)

“Theyyam”. Preparation for the Theyyam performance in the surroundings of Kasaragod city. Theyyam is a popular ritual dance form of North Kerala, particularly in Kannur and Kasargod districts. The Theyyam represents a mythological, divine or heroic character. Make up of Theyyams is done by specialist. There are different types of face painting for which primarily and secondary colours are used. Therefore it is essential that the makeup man should have perfect knowledge of primary and secondary colour combinations. Sometimes, it takes several hours to paint each face. Photo location: Kasaragod, India. (Photo and caption by Rafal Ziejewski/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A competitor in the carting category of the Henrik Sečnik dog mushing race in Hraše, Slovenia on April 8, 2024. Over 100 dogs and their owners from Slovenia and abroad competed in the 10th edition of this international race. (Photo by Luka Dakskobler/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)