“Danger in the mud” – a crocodile at Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. The grand prize winner. (Photo by Jens Cullmann/World Nature Photography Awards 2022)

A child holds a gun at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., April 15, 2023. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Racing fans soak up the sunshine and dress to impress during Ladies Day at the Aintree Grand National meeting on April 8, 2011 in Aintree, England. Friday is traditionally Ladies day at the three-day meeting of the world famous Grand National, where fashion is as important as the racing.

Birds sit on the back of a zebra in the Nairobi National Park, near Nairobi, Kenya, November 21, 2018. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

A yawning leopard appears to be laughing instead at Chobe National Park in Botswana in January 2023. (Photo by Nick Dale/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Aline, along with other rangers and park staff visit the gorilla's in the parks Mikeno sector, where the majority of the gorilla families live in Virunga National Park. Therefore there has been a surge of poaching and violence in the area. For the first time, women have taken up the most dangerous job in wildlife, becoming para-military rangers at the Virunga National Park in DR Congo. (Photo by Monique Jaques)

Romanian military doctors and medical students sit on a bus behind steamy windows before the National Day parade in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, December 1, 2016. Military planes and helicopters flew over the Romanian capital Thursday as thousands turned out to celebrate the national day, marking the date when the country reunified with Transylvania in 1918. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

National Geographic photographer Steve Winter has spent most of his adult life shooting wild cats. Photo: A 14-month-old cub, cooling off in a pond, is riveted by a deer that appeared near the shore. Tigers are powerful swimmers; they can easily cross rivers four to five miles wide and have been known to swim distances of up to 18 miles. (Photo by Steve Winter/National Geographic)