Participants take part in a high-wheel bicycle race in the Frederick county, in Maryland, United States on July 15, 2023. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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)
A child stands next to sacrificial camels at the camel market ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in the Birqash district, Giza, Egypt, 30 May 2025. Eid al-Adha is one of the holiest Muslim holidays, marking the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. (Photo by Mohamed Hossam/EPA/EFE)
A snowman is seen by the side of a road as snow falls on the hills around the Bay Area while a massive winter storm passes along the west coast, delivering some snow, freezing rains, and gusty winds around, near San Jose, California, U.S., February 23, 2023. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Almost two years old male baby orang-utan Dalai looks on in the zoo in Dresden, Germany, 30 March 2017. Dalai was born to mother Daisy in June 2016. (Photo by Filip Singer/EPA)
Hospitality staff members laugh as they stand on Tiananmen Square before the closing ceremony of China's 19th Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Tuesday, October 24, 2017. The ruling Communist Party on Tuesday formally lifted Xi Jinping's status to China's most powerful ruler in decades, setting the stage for the authoritarian leader to tighten his grip over the country while pursuing an increasingly muscular foreign policy and military expansion. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)
A pine marten – one of a few wild mammals doing well in Britain (although they number just 3,700). A fifth of the country’s wild mammals are at high risk of extinction, research shows. (Photo by Maurice Flynn/The Mammal Society)