The Grevy’s Illusion by Yaron Schmid, USA: a Grevy’s zebra staring at the camera in Lewa, Kenya. Third place – wildlife. (Photo by Yaron Schmid/The Nature Conservancy Global Photo Contest 2019)

Two men cross the street in front of a burned-out bus standing beneath a residential building, in the district Neukoelln in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, January 3, 2023. People across Germany on Saturday resumed their tradition of setting off large numbers of fireworks in public places to see in the new year. The bus was set on fire during the New Year's celebrations. (Photo by Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)

A caiman swims amidst trash in Canal das Taxas at the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood in west Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 22, 2023. The urban expansion of the area and the resulting pollution have put the yacare caiman (Caiman latirostris) “in danger of extinction”. (Photo by Tercio Teixeira/AFP Photo)

An instructor dances as participants follow the dance steps in a Bihu dance workshop ahead of the Rongali Bihu Festival in Guwahati, India, on April 8, 2025. (Photo by David Talukdar/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A 15-year-old girl denied a horse from her parents has turned to a cow to fulfil her riding dreams. Teenager Regina Mayer, from southern Germany, is able to ride her cow, Luna. She has even trained her bovine pet to soar over a beer-crate hurdle like a regular show jumper. Why, you may well ask, when most cow-owners are surely content to let the creatures chew and lactate and sit down to indicate the imminent arrival of rain? Well, Regina's parents wouldn't let her have a horse.

A female Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighter stands near a security position in Sinjar, March 13, 2015. Women fighters at a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) base on Mount Sinjar in northwest Iraq, just like their male counterparts, have to be ready for action at any time. Smoke from the front line, marking their battle against Islamic State, which launched an assault on northern Iraq last summer, is visible from the base. Many of the women have cut links with their families back home; the fighters come from all corners of the Kurdish region. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih /Reuters)

Shortlisted: The Life: A narrow strip, Río Tinto, Huelva, Spain. A narrow strip of road divides ochre-coloured and fresh waters. Trees wait on the fresh side of the road opposite the toxic waters of a nearby mine reservoir. (Photo by Roberto Bueno/CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2021)

A participant wearing a cosplay costume attends the Japan Expo in Marseille, France, February 22, 2019. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)