Warriors from the Suri tribe in Ethiopia still stage the savage “Donga” battles – even after many fighters have been died from their injuries. Donga stick fights take place after the harvests, the Surmas count days owing to knots on a long stem of grass or jags on the trunk of a tree dedicated to that specific use. Here: A tribeswoman sporting a huge lip plate and wearing a skinned animal carcass on her head. (Photo by Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media)

Residents in fox makeup participate in the Oji Fox parade to thank the outgoing and welcome the incoming year at the Oji Inari shrine in Tokyo late on December 31, 2017. (Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP Photo)

People take part in the Classic Ride Rally in downtown Valencia, eastern Spain, 23 November 2014. Some hundred people on classic bikes from the 20's to the 70's participated in the rally. (Photo by Kai Foersterling/EPA)

Buddhist monks walk past a statue of comic character the Hulk at Tamru temple in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, March 3, 2016. It’s a sign of changing times for Buddhism in Thailand when one sees temples, including Wat Tam Ru, using U.S. comic superheroes to attract children and teenagers into the religion. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

A villager pours pesticide from a bucket as Mount Sinabung spews ash at Kebayaken village in Karo district, Indonesia's North Sumatra province, on December 4, 2013. The country has ordered the evacuation of 15,000 residents near the active volcano. (Photo by Roni Bintang/Reuters)

With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)

Water pools on top of a water lily leaf after rain at Benchakitti Forest Park in Bangkok, Thailand on September 27, 2023. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Pokot men carry a part of a carcass of a bull killed by a young man during an initiation ceremony in Baringo County, Kenya, January 20, 2016. Far from the bustling city of Nairobi, in an isolated corner of Kenya's Rift Valley, young men from the Pokot community spear a bull in a ceremony called Sapana that takes them into adulthood. (Photo by Siegfried Modola/Reuters)