16-year-old panda, Ye Ye, rests in an enclosure at the Wolong Nature Reserve, a conservation center that trains pandas for release into the wild. This image was published in the August 2016 National Geographic magazine as part of the “Pandas Gone Wild” story. (Photo by Ami Vitale/National Geographic Creative)

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)

Rev. Yeon Ah Lee Moon of the Sanctuary Church holds a gold AR-15 during a ceremony to rededicate marriages at the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, USA, 28 February 2018. The church, a breakaway from the Unification Church, believes guns are a symbol of the “rod of iron” referenced in the Book of Revelations. (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/EFE)

A local wears a plastic water bottle with a cutout to cover her face, as she walks on a footbridge in Hong Kong on January 31, 2020, as a preventative measure following a virus outbreak which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The World Health Organization, which initially downplayed the severity of a disease that has now killed 170 nationwide, warned all governments to be “on alert” as it weighed whether to declare a global health emergency. (Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP Photo)

English television presenter Maya Jama attends The Fashion Awards 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall on December 05, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Backgrid UK)

A protester reacts as riot police officers detain him during anti-government demonstrations following nationwide deadly riots over tax hikes, in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 23, 2024. (Photo by Monicah Mwangi/Reuters)

Showgirl Amy Findlay after the the rehearsals for Circus Vegas in Newcastle, Britain on July 27, 2023. (Photo by Lee Smith/Reuters)

The May Queen during the Beltane Fire Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland on April 30, 2022. A dynamic reinterpretation of an ancient Celtic celebration of the return of summer, the festival is centered around the story of the May Queen and the Green Man, and the lighting of the Beltane bonfire, symbolic of purification, healing and new life. Edinburgh's Beltane celebrations are the largest of their kind in the world with around 250 volunteer performers and thousands of spectators. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)