Isabel Schmalenbach, an environmental scientist with the Helgoland Biological Institute (Biologische Anstalt Helgoland), part of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, holds a one-year old baby European lobster (Homarus gammarus) raised at the institute on August 3, 2013 on Helgoland Island, Germany. Later in the day Schmalenbach and her colleagues released a total of 415 one-year old lobsters into the North Sea as part of an effort to repopulate the lobster population around Helgoland (also called Heligoland). In the 19th century local fishermen caught up to 80,000 lobsters a year in the surrounding waters, combined with the heavy allied bombing of the island during and after World War II, as well as other environmental factors, decimated the lobster population. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

It's that time of year again when dogs with unusually large heads, hairless bodies and other oddities compete to be the World's Ugliest Dog. This year's winner? A 2-year-old mutt named Peanut, whose wild white and brown hair, bulging eyes and protruding teeth belie his sweet, energetic personality. Peanut's owner, Holly Chandler of Greenville, North Carolina, says he was seriously burned as a puppy and she wants to use her pet to raise awareness about animal abuse. She plans to use the $1,500 prize to pay for other animals' veterinary bills. The contest, held at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, California, is in its 26 year. The dogs are scored by a three-judge panel in several categories, including special or unusual attributes, personality and natural ugliness.

A Waura Indian woman watches the activities of this year's “quarup”, a ritual held over several days to honour in death a person of great importance to them, in Xingu National Park, Mato Grosso State, August 24, 2013. This year the Waura tribe is honouring their late cacique (chief) Atamai, who died in 2012 and helped created the Xingu Park, and his important contribution in facilitating communication between white Brazilians and Indians. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

Revellers take part in the annual “Naval Battle” of Vallecas in Madrid, Spain July 19, 2015. The slogan for this year's water battle is “Get wet for Alfon, freedom for Alfon”, referring to Alfonso Fernandez Ortega, a Vallecas resident who was sentenced to four years in prison in June. The festival was started spontaneously in 1981 when some neighbours started to throw water at one another due to high temperatures during the Virgen del Carmen Festival. (Photo by Juan Medina/Reuters)

A selection of hand-made leis, traditional Hawaiian necklaces made of flowers and worn mostly on special occasions, fill a cooler at Lin's Lei Shop in the Chinatown district of Honolulu, Hawaii December 22, 2015. Hawaii, whose economy depends heavily on tourism, sees a brief lull in visitors each year in January and February. But in addition to the usual tourist destinations, the state shows a unique overlay of mainland U.S. culture atop tropical beauty year-round. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

A member of security personnel stands on duty on an empty train platform inside a station on the Subway Line Number 1 on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China, February 7, 2016. According to local media, traffic in Beijing has seen a rare relief from its usual heavy pressure after 15 million people have left the city, heading for family reunions in their hometowns on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year of Monkey. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

A schoolgirl is soaked with water thrown by an elephant in a preview of the upcoming Songkran Festival celebration, the Thai traditional New Year, also known as the water festival in the ancient world heritage city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, 11 April 2016. The annual elephant Songkran is held to promote the tourism industry prior the three-day Songkran Festival which starts on 13-15 April annually and is celebrated with splashing water and putting powder on each others faces as a symbolic sign of cleansing and washing away the sins from the old year. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA)

Kimono-clad women enjoy the view from Tokyo Sky Tree’s 350-meter-high observation deck in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, on the Coming of Age Day, January 9, 2017. Sumida Ward invited about 430 local 20-year-old to the deck to celebrate them. Many city governments invite local 20-years-old to there’s symbolic places and celebrate for their Coming of Age Day. (Photo by The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images)