Commended. In late May, about a quarter of a million snow geese arrive from North America to nest on Wrangel Island, in northeastern Russia. They form the world's largest breeding colony of snow geese. Photographer Sergey Gorshkov spent two months on the remote island photographing the unfolding dramas. Arctic foxes take advantage of the abundance of eggs, caching surplus eggs for leaner times. But a goose (here the gander) is easily a match for a fox, which must rely on speed and guile to steal eggs. “The battles were fairly equal”, notes Sergey, “and I only saw a fox succeed in grabbing an egg on a couple of occasions, despite many attempts”. Surprisingly, “the geese lacked any sense of community spirit”, he adds, “and never reacted when a fox harassed a neighboring pair nesting close by”. (Photo by Sergey Gorshkov/Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer)

Orphaned mountain gorilla, Ndakasi, lies in the arms of her caregiver, Andre Bauma, on September 21, 2021 shortly before her death, which the park confirmed on September 26. Mr Bauma and others at the Senkwekwe Mountain Gorilla Center had cared for Ndakasi and other orphans for 13 years. Ndakasi had suffered a prolonged illness prior to her death. This is the only mountain gorilla orphanage in the world and takes in mountain gorilla orphans who have lost their families to poaching or conflict. A number of the orphans here were rescued from sales by poachers in sting operations carried out by Congolese National Park Authority (ICCN) rangers. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

Balis Chinese community perform the dragon dance during Chinese New Year called Ngelawang ceremony on January 21, 2023 in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. The Chinese diaspora of Southeast Asia is celebrating Lunar New Year, as COVID-19 restrictions have been removed, it is traditionally a time for people to meet their relatives and take part in celebrations with families. In Indonesia, ethnic Chinese families visited temples to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit on January 22. (Photo by Agung Parameswara/Getty Images)

Elvis Presley impersonator Michael Conti sings as he officiates a wedding for Phoebe Kim and Colton Sorensen of California as they dance at the Little White Wedding Chapel on December 31, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In what could be a record-breaking date for weddings in the city, thousands of couples are expected to get married on the specialty date with the repeating 1-2-3 1-2-3 pattern that also coincides with the New Year's Eve holiday and a weekend. The most popular date for Las Vegas weddings was in 2007, when 4,492 couples exchanged vows on July 7, or 7/7/07. Since 1953, more than five million weddings have been held in the city, when the Daily Herald in London published an article referring to Las Vegas as the “Wedding Capital of the World”. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Under Exposed: Pekka Tuuri (Finland) – Great white shark, Isla Guadalupe, Mexico. “Isla Guadalupe is the world capital when it comes to observing great white sharks, but cage diving seriously limits the possibilities to take ‘fresh’ pictures. When I took this, the water close to the surface was quite milky, making photography very challenging. From out of the “mist”, I saw this great white shark lurking behind a school of fusiliers. I quickly focused on the shark and set a wide aperture to get focus blur on the fish, along with a fast shutter to avoid excessive motion blur”. (Photo by Pekka Tuuri/The Outdoor Photographer of the Year/The Guardian)

Palestinian barber Ramadan Odwan styles and straightens the hair of a customer with fire at his salon in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip February 2, 2017. In Ramadan Odwan's barbershop in Gaza, hair isn't just blow-dried, it's blowtorch-dried. “People have gone crazy about it, many people are curious to go through the experience and they are not afraid”, he told Reuters. “People here love adventures”. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Scenes from the popular Walking Street normally packed with tourists filled with bars and restaurants in Pattaya, Thailand on March 10, 2020. Thailand depends on tourism, currently tourist arrivals have plunged more than 50% and are expected to continue for months ahead. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Thailand there has been 59 confirmed cases of Coronavirus ( COVID-19 ) with 6 new, only one death with around 1,903 persons under treatment. Latest information on the Novel Coronavirus has infected more than 118,000 people and killed close to 4,300. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

In this Wednesday, August 21, 1991 file photo, appreciative muscovites hand bread, sausages and flowers to a Soviet tank's driver who helped stop the failed hardline coup in Moscow, Russia. When a group of top Communist officials ousted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev 30 years ago and flooded Moscow with tanks, the world held its breath, fearing a rollback on liberal reforms and a return to the Cold War confrontation. But the August 1991 coup collapsed in just three days, precipitating the breakup of the Soviet Union that plotters said they were trying to prevent. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo/File)