A cat, named “Sulo”, is seen in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square wearing sunglasses, in Turkiye, on December 30, 2022. (Photo by Murat Sengul/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A man hugs his monitor lizard who is wearing a Christmas hat on December 25, 2021 in Bangkok, Thailand. Monitor lizard enthusiasts gather on Christmas Day for a garden party at the Somtum Khun Daeng restaurant and cafe to share their appreciation for their monitor lizards. The event for owners of this controversial Thai pet included important facts and information about monitor lizard care as well as prizes for those who brought their lizard with them. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

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)

Galapagos – Rocking the Cradle: Four major ocean currents converge along the Galapagos archipelago, creating the conditions for an extraordinary diversity of animal life, April 25, 2016. The islands are home to at least 7,000 flora and fauna species, of which 97 percent of the reptiles, 80 percent of the land birds, 50 percent of the insects and 30 percent of the plants are endemic. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak for National Geographic/World Press Photo)

A burning tree is seen during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in Itapua do Oeste, Rondonia State, Brazil, September 11, 2019. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

People look at smoke and flame rising from the Nevskaya Manufaktura textile factory founded by English merchant J. Thornton in 1841, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 12, 2021. The emergencies ministry said the fire had broken out over several floors of the red-brick Nevskaya Manufaktura building on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment of the Neva River. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A child applies make-up as a mimic while asking for alms from passers-by at a market area ahead of the festival of Diwali in New Delhi on October 22, 2022. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

Students with faces painted as Hindu goddess Kali, take part in a cultural event ahead of the Janmashtami festival, or the birth anniversary of Hindu Lord Krishna, inside a college in Mumbai, India on September 4, 2023. (Photo by Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters)