Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Pierre Thivillon (R), director of the zoological park of Saint-Martin-La-Plaine and his wife Eliane look at Digit, an 18-year-old female gorilla, on August 19, 2016, in Saint-Martin-La-Plaine between Lyon and Saint-Etienne, southeastern France. The zoological park of Saint-Martin-La-Plaine is a shelter for beasts seized by the justice. (Photo by Philippe Desmazes/AFP Photo)

Guide dog Pinky is pet by her trainer during her graduation ceremony in Xochimilco on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico on December 2, 2023. (Photo by Raquel Cunha/Reuters)

India: A sweeper cleans the side of a road near a replica of the Eiffel Tower amid heavy fog in the early morning in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh January 18, 2010. (Photo by Ajay Verma/Reuters)

A woman looks at head of bluefin tuna on display in front of a store at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Monday, February 19, 2018. The large bluefin are particularly valuable in Japan, where they are considered a premium sushi and sashimi fish. A single fish sold for more than $1.75 million at an auction in Japan in 2013. (Photo by Koji Sasahara/AP Photo)

Demonstrators protest against bullfighting in front of the City Hall a day before of the famous San Fermin festival, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Friday, July 5, 2019. The festival will begin on July 6 with the “txupinazo” opening ceremony, with people participating in bull runs, music and dance, through the old city. (Photo by Alvaro Barrientos/AP Photo)

An Indian labourer carries a sack of plastic bottles on his head near one of the largest disposal sites in north-east India, ahead of the “World Environment Day” in Boragaon area of Guwahati on June 4, 2018. World Environment Day is marked annually on June 5, and aims at promoting awareness and action to protect the environment. (Photo by Biju Boro/AFP Photo)

Dancers from Kyiv and Dnipro preparing themselves in the wings for a performance at the Kyiv National Opera House on June 24, 2022. (Photo by Julian Simmonds/The Guardian)