Members of the Apocalyptic Marauders group in their post-apocalyptic outfits and gear, including a flame thrower in Henrichenburg, Waltrop, Germany on August 13, 2023. Steampunk fans, groups and visitors, many in retro-futuristic or Victorian inspired outfits, have fun on the second day of the Steampunk Jubilee Festival weekend at the historic Henrichenburg boat lift, a listed industrial heritage site landmark. (Photo by Imageplotter/Alamy Live News)

Actresses Zelda Williams and Kelly Monaco attend Nintendo's celebration of the launch of Super Mario 3D Land at Siren Studios on November 3, 2011 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Nintendo)

The three orangutans at Pairi Daiza zoo, Belgium, developed a “special bond” with the otters after their river was run through the ape enclosure on March 2020. The zoo said it enriched both species’ environments. An animal – and this is even more the case of orangutans, with whom humans share 97 per cent of their DNA – must be entertained, occupied, challenged and kept busy mentally, emotionally and physically at all times. (Photo by Pascale Jones/The Sun)

Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)