A red squirrel sniffs out nuts inside Christmas stockings as part of the festive celebrations and enrichment programme at Wildwood Escot Park in Ottery St Mary, Devon, United Kingdom on December 17, 2020. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

In this image released by World Press Photo, Thursday April 15, 2021, by Ami Vitale for CNN, titled Rescue of Giraffes from Flooding Island, which won the first prize in the Nature Singles category, shows A Rothschild's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) is transported to safety in a custom-built barge from a flooded Longicharo Island, Lake Baringo, in western Kenya, on Dec. 3, 2020. (Photo by Ami Vitale for CNN, World Press Photo via AP Photo)

An undated handout image provided by UNICEF Germany on 20 December 2016 shows the “UNICEF Photo of the Year 2016” by Iranian freelance photographer Arez Ghaderi. Ghaderi won the first prize for his picture of a girl in a makeshift tent city in the Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, it was announced at a ceremony in Berlin, Germany on 20 December 2016. (Photo by Ariz Ghaderi/EPA/UNICEF Deutschland)

Female seal “Lotte” swims in a pool of her enclosure at the zoo in Rostock, northeastern Germany, on September 27, 2019. (Photo by Bernd Wuestneck/dpa/AFP Photo)

A seal infront of a passing cruise ship on the shore between Sandhaven village and Fraserburgh in Scotland in August 2023. (Photo by Mark Grant/Caters News Agency)

A month-old Tengmalm’s owl chick blends in with soft toys on August 8, 2024 at the Scottish Owl Centre in Whitburn, West Lothian. The chick is being raised by Trystan Williams, the centre’s head keeper, after losing its father and being abandoned by its mother. (Photo by Katielee Arrowsmith/South West News Service)

“Cub”. In the colony of penguins in South Georgia. (Photo and caption by Ondrej Zaruba/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

Highly commended, mammals: Gelada after the storm – Marco Gaiotti (Italy). “Gelada baboons are the only monkey species in the world that feed on grasses. They are native to the tableland of Ethiopia. Every morning large family groups wander from their sleeping places in the steep rock face, up to 1,000 metres high, to the feeding grounds at the tablelands. This image clearly depicts their feeding strategy: they pull out bunches of grass, sort the stalks and then lift them to their mouth. This shot was taken towards the end of the rainy season after a heavy storm”. (Photo by Marco Gaiotti/2019 GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year)