A woman feeds red-billed gulls on the Haigeng Dam of Dian Lake on March 5, 2023 in Kunming, Yunnan Province of China. (Photo by Yang Zheng/VCG via Getty Images)

Palestinians gather at the beach in Israel's coastal city of Tel Aviv on June 29, 2023 on the second day of the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday. (Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP Photo)

(From front to back) Carson, Rosie and Charlie Surfs Up compete during the World Dog Surfing Championships in Pacifica, California, on August 5, 2023. The event helps local charities raise money by sponsoring a contestant or a team, with a portion of the proceeds going to dog, environmental, and surfing nonprofit organizations. (Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP Photo)

Yakut artists present a performance based on the national Yakut epic “Olonkho” on the stage of the Kyrgyz Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 24 April 2024. The State Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is on tour in Bishkek on April 24 and 26. (Photo by Igor Kovalenko/EPA/EFE)

Pupils of the Dao ethnic tribe return home from school along a hillside path at Suoi Thau village in Hoang Su Phi district of Vietnam's northern province of Ha Giang, located at the border with China, September 18, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Kham)

Participants take part in a high-heel race at a Gay Pride party in the central neighborhood of Chueca in Madrid on July 3, 2014. (Photo by Gerard Julien/AFP Photo)

Igor Shpilenok works in the reserve at Kamchatka, Russia. Igor is a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and a winner of the 2006 BBC Wildlife Photographer Competition. Igor’s work has been published in numerous international and Russian magazines, including Smithsonian, National Wildlife, Geo, and BBC Wildlife.

“How does a bear behave when encounter a human? In most cases he runs away. But before running he almost always would rise to stand on his rear feet. And this behavior does not indicate the attack, as many people think...” – Igor Shpilenok. (Photo by Igor Shpilenok via Wildlife Photo Russia)

Birds behaviour winner: Land of the Eagle by Audun Rikardsen, Norway. High on a ledge, on the coast near his home in northern Norway, Rikardsen carefully positioned an old tree branch that he hoped would make a perfect golden eagle lookout. To this, he bolted a tripod head with a camera, flashes and motion sensor attached, and built himself a hide a short distance away. From time to time, he left road‑kill carrion nearby. Very gradually – over the next three years – a golden eagle got used to the camera and started to use the branch regularly to survey the coast below. (Photo by Audun Rikardsen/2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)