A performer wears a face shield at a shopping center on New Year's Eve during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand on December 31, 2020. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Inflatable pools were set up by volunteer youth to cool children living in tents in Khan Yunis city of Gaza under Israeli attacks, on July 18, 2024. (Photo by Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Mohammed Abu Al-Qumsan, whose wife Jumann, and newborn twins Asser and Ayssel were killed in an Israeli strike while he was bringing the twins' birth certificates, according to medics, reacts as he holds the certificates, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on August 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdullah Al-Attar/Reuters)

Dancers perform during a general rehearsal of “Kreatur” (Creature) by German choreographer Sasha Waltz in collaboration with artist and fashion designer Iris van Herpen and light designer Urs Schoenebaum in Berlin, Germany on June 8, 2017. (Photo by Stefanie Loos/Reuters)

A winter swimmer jumps into a pool in the frozen Songhua River during an activity for welcoming the Chinese New Year on January 30, 2022 in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province of China. (Photo by Liu Yang/VCG via Getty Images)

A tourist poses on the glass-bottom bridge at Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon on August 20, 2016 in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province of China. The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon's glass-bottomed bridge welcame its trial operation on Saturday and about 8,000 tourists crowded to view the grand glass bridge. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

An ice swimming enthusiast dressed as Neptune takes to the frigid waters of Orankesee lake during the 27th annual "Winter Swimming in Berlin" on January 8, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. A local swimmers' group called the “Berlin Seals” invite ice swimmers from across Germany and abroad to the annual event. Members claim ice swimming is good for the body's blood circulation. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

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)