“In the late afternoon after a rain, genji botaru fireflies (luciola cruciate) dance above the swollen creek. The rocks darkened by the rain reflecting the blue sky, and the yellow-green ribbon of the glow from the fireflies, make a beautiful contrast”. – Takehito Miyatake. (Photo by Takehito Miyatake/Steven Kasher Gallery)

Students perform a traditional dance during the Onam festival celebrations in Chennai on August 25, 2023. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

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)

A horse handler poses with a horse during a beach parade at Muizenberg beach, in Cape Town, South Africa on January 5, 2024. (Photo by Esa Alexander/Reuters)

A woman rows her boat as she harvests tomatoes on Inle lake, in Myanmar's Shan State September 4, 2015. Inle is one of the country's most popular tourist sites. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

A woman struggles to drink homemade alcohol poured from the mouth of an idol of “Swet Bhairab” during the annual Indra Jatra festival to worship Indra, Kumari and other deities and to mark the end of monsoon season in Kathmandu, Nepal on September 15, 2019. (Photo by Monika Deupala/Reuters)

A commuter holding his shoes rides on a tricyle through a flooded street, caused by a heavy downpour brought about by the southwest moonson, in Manila, Philippines on August 2, 2019. (Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP Photo)

In this May 17, 2015, photo, two men walk past pagodas at Ngwe Saung beach, Pathein township, about 145 miles from Yangon, Myanmar. (Photo by Khin Maung Win/AP Photo)