A man reacts as he tries to extinguish a burning Christmas tree at Festival Walk mall in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, November 12, 2019. Anti-government protesters smashed windows and set fires in the mall on Tuesday, including to a big Christmas tree. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A homeless street child looks in the window of a car in Jammu, India, Friday, January 6, 2017. Some 800 million people in the country live in poverty, many of them migrating to big cities in search of a livelihood and often ending up on the streets. (Photo by Channi Anand/AP Photo)

Jimmy Bryan of Phoenix, Ariz., gets the checkered victory flag at the Indiana State Fairgrounds September 17, 1955 as he wins the “Hoosier Hundred” for the second consecutive year. Bryan averaged 83.98 miles an hour for the 100-lap, 100-mile AAA big car race. (Photo by AP Photo)

In the 1970′s, actress and model Tippi Hedren (mother of actress Melanie Griffith) created the Shambala Preserve after producing the film Roar. The preserve rescued exotic big cats living in captivity that had been abused or were in need of help, one of which the family created a close bond with. Neil the lion lived with the family in their home, and played an active role in the day to day activities of the preserve.

New York City is populated with millions of people that each serve as an essential piece of the city's eclectic pie. The Big Apple's offering of unique and diverse individuals is arguably unmatched. We always hear about what a melting pot this immense metropolis is with its endless supply of quirky characters and the ongoing photo series known as Humans of New York proves it.

Boys eat at a rubbish dump where they are collecting recyclable waste outside Yemen's Red Sea port city of Houdieda January 20, 2016. (Photo by Abduljabbar Zeyad/Reuters)

A boy works on a car in Babi Kouakou's car repair garage in Bouake, Ivory Coast February 9, 2016. Babi specialises in restoring old cars. (Photo by Thierry Gouegnon/Reuters)

Boys ride a motorbike on their way back home after taking a bath in a canal at Chachura village, in Uttar Pradesh April 4, 2012. (Photo by Parivartan Sharma/Reuters)