5-year-old Chinese girl Wang Anna prepares meals for her grandmother and great-grandmother at home in Zhuyuan village, Guizhou province, China on March 3, 2017. Chinese girl called Wang Anna, 5, takes care of her ill grandmother and 92-year-old great-grandmother on her own every day in a mountainous village in Zhima town, Zunyi city, southwest China's Guizhou province. Her father went to jail before she was born and her mother remarried after gave birth to her. Although she is just five years old, she started to shoulder the responsibility to look after ill grandmother and elderly great-grandmother. (Photo by Imaginechina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

“This is the heart-stopping moment a photographer came within inches of a young cheetah when it stuck its head through her sun roof. Australian Bobby-Jo Clow, 31, was on safari in Tanzania when the juvenile started heading towards her Landrover with his sibling. She snapped away as the young male dangled its paws in front of her face and smelt her hair before its mother called it away into the wilds of the Serengeti National Park. But not until Bobby-Jo, a full-time elephant keeper at a Tanzanian Zoo, had leaned forward enough to capture the perfect shot, causing the cheetah to hiss and bare its teeth”. – Caters News. (Photo by Bobby-Jo Clow/Caters News)

“Cockayne syndrome (also called Weber-Cockayne syndrome, or Neill-Dingwall Syndrome) is a rare autosomal recessive congenital disorder characterized by growth failure, impaired development of the nervous system, abnormal sensitivity to sunlight (photosensitivity), and premature aging. Hearing loss and eye abnormalities (pigmentary retinopathy) are other common features, but problems with any or all of the internal organs are possible. It is associated with a group of disorders called leukodystrophies. The underlying disorder is a defect in a DNA repair mechanism. It is named after English physician Edward Alfred Cockayne (1880–1956)”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Mother of 12-year-old Chinese girl Sun Yangyang suffering from Cockayne syndrome, tends her at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University on November 11, 2006 in Changchun of Jilin Province, China. The disease results in the senile appearance of Yangyang and also causes eyesight, hearing weakness and other problems. Doctors failed to cure the girl... (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

“Nomascus is the second most speciose genus of gibbons (family Hylobatidae). Originally this genus was a subgenus of Hylobates, and all individuals were considered one species, Hylobates concolor. Species within Nomascus are characterized by 52 chromosomes. Some species are all black, some light with a distinct black tuft of crown fur, and some by distinct, light-colored cheek patches. Nomascus is found from southern China (Yunnan) to southern Vietnam, and also on Hainan Island. One of the genus' species, Nomascus nasutus, has been deemed “the most critically endangered ape species in the world”. All of the species in this genus are endangered or critically endangered”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A newborn White-Cheeked Gibbon clings to its mother in the Nanning Zoo on April 12, 2004 in Nanning, Guangxi province, China. The White-Cheeked Gibbon's natural habitat is Southern China as well as Vietnam and Laos. They are classified as highly endangered and are on the brink of extinction due to poaching and reduction of natural rainforests. (Photo by Getty Images)

Orphaned baby rhinos seen on August 28, 2014 in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Ngare Ndare Forest, Kenya. Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya is hand-raising three orphaned baby rhinos; Nicky, Hope and Kilifi. Baby rhino Hope was rescued by rangers when the poachers killed his mother – now he is been taken care off 24 hours-a-day at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. The wildlife reserve hit the headlines when Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton there in 2010. Rhinos around the world are becoming extinct as a result of the brutal poaching fuelled by an illegal international market for their horns. (Photo by Luca Ghidoni/Barcroft Media)

A Japanese white-eye is seen on a branch of cherry blossoms at Kyoto Imperial Palace on March 26, 2010 in Kyoto, Japan. (Photo by Akihiro I/Getty Images)

Second Place Winner: “Thunderstorm at False Kiva”. I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through, creating this dramatic image. – Max Seigal. National Geographic Traveler Director of Photography Dan Westergren, one of this year's judges, shares his thoughts on the second place winner: “This photo combines two different scenes into one: the small kiva in a cliff dwelling and the grand vista of Canyonlands National Park across the valley. I really like the two different color palettes – warm inside and purple outside. This two-for-one scene was caused by the lightning storm outside the dwelling, which lit up the landscape like it was a huge electronic flash. Looking at this picture I can imagine what a wonderful sight it must have been for the ancient people who lived here. It doesn't seem too amazing now in our modern world, but might have been mind-blowing for the prehistoric residents”. Location: Utah. (Photo and caption by Max Seigal/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)