An initiate sprays out his fan as he enjoys the view from atop his father's shoulders during the ceremony in Mae Hong Son, Thailand, April 2016. (Photo by Claudio Sieber/Barcroft Images)

Shortlisted: “Two big eyes” by Miao Yong (Zejiang province, China). Damselflies look over the leaves. “I was photographing insects in a park near my home when suddenly I found two damselflies in the grass. They kept flying and it was very difficult to focus until suddenly they parked behind a leaf”. (Photo by Miao Yong/2017 Royal Society of Biology Photographer of the Year)

“The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). It is most common in the southern hemisphere along the coast of Antarctica and on most sub-Antarctic islands, but can also be found on the coasts of southern Australia, Tasmania, South Africa, New Zealand, Lord Howe Island, Tierra del Fuego, the Cook Islands, and the Atlantic coast of South America. It can live twenty-six years, possibly more. Orcas and large sharks are the only natural predators of leopard seals”. – Wikipedia

Photo by: Gilad Rom; Source: Flickr

The rabbit population of San Juan Island, brought in to feed lighthouse keepers, got so big that in the 1930s foxes were introduced to kill them. Although they are red foxes, their coats can be orange, silver, black or multi-coloured. Picture date: September 2023. (Photo by Jun Zuo/Solent News)

A flying lemur glides through the air in West Java, Indonesia in the first decade of October 2023. The photographer said the animal veered away from him at the last minute. (Photo by Dzul Dzulfikri/Animal News Agency)

Girls dressed in Soviet WWII uniforms of traffic control officers as Russian President Vladiimir Putin lays a wreath in the Hall of Military Glory of the Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad to mark the 75th anniversary of the victory in the battle in Volgograd, Russia on February 2, 2018. The battle between Nazi troops and the Soviet Army was a major pivotal moment in the Great Patriotic War and World War II. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/TASS via Getty Images)

A helicopter from the Venezuela's Army takes part in a military parade to celebrate the 207th anniversary of Venezuela's independence in Caracas, Venezuela July 5, 2018. (Photo by Marco Bello/Reuters)