Bloodthirsty by Thomas P. Peschak, Germany/South Africa — winner, Behaviour: birds. When rations run short on Wolf Island, in the remote northern Galápagos, the sharp-beaked ground finches become vampires. Their sitting targets are Nazca boobies and other large birds. The finches rely on a scant diet of seeds and insects, which regularly dries up, so they drink blood to survive. ‘I’ve seen more than half a dozen finches drinking from a single Nazca booby,’ says Tom. Rather than leave their nests the boobies tolerate the vampires, and the blood loss doesn’t seem to cause permanent harm. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

People perform Chinese Lion dance in Chinatown during the Chinese Lunar New Year in Lima, Peru on February 5, 2019. (Photo by Guadalupe Pardo/Reuters)

Soldiers on exercise in Kenya. The image, by Sergeant Dek Traylor, is among the section winners in the UK Army Photographic Competition 2018. (Photo by Sergeant Dek Traylor/PA Wire Press Association)

Junior Lambrechts has his face painted in preparation for the Cape Minstrel Carnival in Cape Town, South Africa on January 2, 2023. (Photo by Shelley Christians/Reuters)

The first female attack helicopter pilot of Türkiye's Atak helicopter, Deputy Commissioner Özge Karabulut, undisclosed location, Türkiye, January 6, 2022. (Photo by Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A woman holds a child as she stands near rubble and damages following an earthquake in Gaziantep, Turkey on February 7, 2023. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

A girl plays with water as she celebrates the Songkran holiday which marks the Thai New Year in Bangkok, Thailand on April 13, 2023. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

Artist and photographer Spencer Tunick, right, walks past models covering themselves with large leaves, as he talks about his next project at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Thursday, November 24, 2022. Tuncik is expecting to photograph thousands of nude people on Bondi Beach on Saturday. (Photo by Rick Rycroft/AP Photo)