“Hiding In The Shadows”. This Baby Sandhill taking refuge under Moms wings while sitting on her second egg. I witnessed this baby being born earlier that day,and the next morning saw the other one hatch,what a sight to see. Photo location: Deland, Florida. (Photo and caption by Scott Helfrich/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Beautiful, strange and occasionally alarming pictures from the shortlist for this year’s Wellcome image awards – which celebrate the very best in science photography and imaging – from an x-ray of a bat to a micrograph of a kidney stone. The exhibition opens on 12 March at three science centres and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Photo: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, also commonly known as thale cress. Some of the anthers are open, revealing pollen grains ready for dispersal. Arabidopsis was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced and is widely used as a model organism in molecular and plant biology. Horizontal width of image is 1200 microns. Magnification 100x. (Photo by Stefan Eberhard/Wellcome Images)

Peru, Iquitos. Restaurant in Bellavista, an area by the Amazon on April 2005. (Photo by Jean-Claude Coutausse)

U.S. Rep Steve Southerland grins after winning an auctioned possum during the Wausau Possum Festival on Saturday, August 2, 2014, in Wausau, Fla. What is usually a must-attend event for statewide candidates was notably lacking of them this year, perhaps because candidates who now raise tens of millions of dollars focus more on television ads than making personal contact. But not attending is a missed opportunity, said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political science professor who drove more than 350 miles for the festival. (Photo by Heather Leiphart/AP Photo/The News Herald)

A jogger runs on the bank of Donaukanal channel in central Vienna, Austria, September 5, 2016. (Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)

Comic Con fans in costume arrive for the 2nd day of the 2016 New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javits Center on October 7, 2016. The four- day event which runs October 6-9 is the largest pop culture event on the East Coast. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

Wakhi nomad women milk yaks in Wakhan, Afghanistan. About 12,000 villagers live at an altitude of 4,500 metres in the harsh, desolate terrain. The Wakhi people live a simple, relaxed life with their livestock. (Photo by Eric Lafforgue/Barcroft Images)

This picture taken on May 21, 2016 shows professional wrestlers fighting each other during the Wrestling City Asia organized by Singapore Pro Wrestling at a stadium in Kuala Lumpur. Kenneth Thexeira is a mild-mannered writer for an interior-design magazine by day, but on certain nights his alter ego bursts forth in golden tights and a baby-blue cape: enter “The Eurasian Dragon”. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)