A photographer with a hidden camera took 2,500 photos before this elusive badger was ready for his close-up in September 2020. (Photo by Andy Swinden/BNPS)
The endangered antipodean albatross, which is often caught in fishing nets, won most first-choice votes out of the more than 55,000 votes cast during the 2020 New Zealand’s bird of the year competition. (Photo by Wildestanimal/Getty Images)
A Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo joey with its mother at Sydney Zoo in Australia on January 22, 2021. The 28-week-old male joey, who is yet to be named, has only just begun to pop his head and shoulders out of his mum's pouch. (Photo by Taronga Zoo via Reuters)
Sophia answers questions at Hanson Robotics studio in Hong Kong on March 29, 2021. Sophia is a robot of many talents — she speaks, jokes, sings and even makes art. In March, she caused a stir in the art world when a digital work she created as part of a collaboration was sold at an auction for $688,888 in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)
A woman carries a heart shaped balloon while sitting with her husband on a motorbike during Valentine's day, in Karachi on February 14, 2021. (Photo by Rizwan Tabassum/AFP Photo)
The galactic centre of the Milky Way glows brightly in the clear night sky above the lighthouse at Portland Bill on the Dorset Jurassic Coast, United Kingdom on April 13, 2021. (Photo by Graham Hunt/Alamy Live News)
The Langdale Pikes in the Lake District in North West England are illuminated on September 14, 2020 by a team of 30 climbers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the local mountain rescue service. (Photo by Tom Mcnally/Triangle News)
A diving competitor during a practice session at Tokyo Aquatics Centre ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)