A priest sprinkles holy water on a believer during the Orthodox Easter service in the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine on May 2, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Chinese Kazakh eagle hunters sit on horseback as they travel to a local competition on January 29, 2015 in the mountains of Qinghe County, Xinjiang, northwestern China. The festival, organised by the local hunting community, is part of an effort to promote and grow traditional hunting practices for new generations in the mountainous region of western China that borders Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. The training and handling of the large birds of prey follows a strict set of ancient rules that Kazakh eagle hunters are preserving for future generations. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

“The Net thrower”. The fisherman are conducting activities on Situgunung Lake. Photo location: Situgunung lake, Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Dody Kusuma/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A man lies in the sea grass at a beach on July 18, 2016 in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. The enteromorpha prolifera spread on the beaches in Qingdao and were under clearing. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Girls play in the water during the Balaton Sound music festival held on the shore of lake Balaton in Zamardi, west Hungary, on July 9, 2017. (Photo by Sandor Csudai/Rockstar Photographers)

Senior Buddhist monk Lobsang Tayang sits outside the Amarbayasgalant Monastery in the Baruunburen district, Selenge province, Mongolia, April 26, 2018. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A participant Saint Nicholas parade walks from house to house dressed in the traditional devil and Nicholas costumes in Francova Lhota district of Zlin, Czech Republic on December 3, 2017. This type of parade is one of the most popular age old tradition in a few villages in Wallachia region (eastern part of Czech Republic). Saint Nicholas walks the streets going from house to house three days and Saint Nicholas gives sweets to children and the devils get up to mischief. (Photo by Lukas Kabon/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

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)