A jaguar (Panthera onca) growls at the Mata Ciliar association, an organization for the conservation of biodiversity, in Jundiai, Sao Paulo state, Brazil on May 29, 2025. Twenty-five pumas and ten jaguars are currently recovering at the Brazilian Center for the Conservation of Neotropical Felines at Mata Ciliar, a site as large as 40 football fields where monkeys, wild dogs, maned wolves, ocelots, and other regional animals are also rehabilitated. (Photo by Nelson Almeida/AFP Photo)

Indian folk dancers display ornaments during a break while participating in the first night of Navratri in Gandhinagar, some 30 km from Ahmedabad, on October 13, 2015. Navratri festivities, or Dance Festival of Nine Nights, takes place between October 13-21. (Photo by Sam Panthaky/AFP Photo)

A girl walks an Akita-inu dog dressed in a military uniform in Vladivostok, Russia on April 9, 2019. (Photo by Yuri Smityuk/TASS)

Extras in the arena of the “Fete des Vignerons” (winegrowers' festival in French), during the last rehearsal in Vevey, Switzerland, 17 July 2019. Organized by the brotherhood of winegrowers, the event will celebrate winemaking from 18 July to 11 August. The arena has a capacity of 20,000 spectators and hosts a giant central LED floor of approximately 800 square meters. (Photo by Laurent Gilliéron/EPA/EFE)

Bathers brave the cold waters of the North Sea as they take part in the annual Boxing Day dip at Redcar Beach on December 26, 2019 in Redcar, England. The event attracts hundreds of people each year who take to the cold water wearing fancy dress as they help to raise money for a number of charities. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times)

A woman sits behind a bicycle on a cold winter morning in New Delhi, December 31, 2019. (Photo by Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

Cadets of the Sikh Regimental Center perform Gatka martial stunts during a combined display ahead of a graduation ceremony at the Officers Training Academy, in Chennai on October 28, 2022. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

Guardian of the Mangroves – Overall Winner. Tanya Houppermans, Cuba. A curious American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) swims right up to Tanya, at Gardens of the Queen (Jardines De La Reina), an archipelago off the coast of Cuba. It has been strictly protected since 1996, and is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. ‍ “The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves and I wanted to capture close ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat. I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical”. (Photo by Tanya Griffin Houppermans/Mangrove Photographer of the Year)