Some are in it just for the money, others to help buy a meal. Then there are those who trade for fun or to spend time among friends. Millions of investors – pensioners, security guards, high-school students – dominate China's stock markets, conducting about 80 percent of all trades. Retirees gather in brokerage houses dotted around China also to enjoy some company and savour the air conditioning on hot days. Some start as young as 13, trading from home with an eye on future careers in finance. Winning isn't guaranteed. This year, among the most turbulent in China's financial history, its stock markets more than doubled in the six months to May, only to crash amid concerns that growth in the country, which makes everything from cars to steel, is slowing faster than previously thought. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Rockhopper penguins live up to their name as they navigate the rugged coastline of Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak)

A gray heron (Ardea cinerea) that fished a common carp (Cyprinus carpio) in Geneva, Switzerland, 21 April 2019. (Photo by Martial Trezzini/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

The endangered antipodean albatross, which is often caught in fishing nets, won most first-choice votes out of the more than 55,000 votes cast during the 2020 New Zealand’s bird of the year competition. (Photo by Wildestanimal/Getty Images)

A male Philippine eagle named Geothermica is seen in an exclosure at Jurong Bird Park in Singapore on November 27, 2019. Singapore unveiled two Philippine eagles at its main aviary November 27, the first breeding pair of the critically endangered raptors to be brought outside their native country as part of a conservation plan. (Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP Photo)

A Sumatran Owl is seen in Palembang City, Indonesia on March 5, 2020. (Photo by Sigit Prasetya/Opn Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Waxwings in Balham south London on December 31, 2023. There has been a huge influx of this erruptive species this year. This probably due to severe storms and a shortage of food in their native Scandinavia in the Autumn. (Photo by Jack Hill/The Times)

The Spanish photographer Xavi Bou digitally combines sequential pictures of birds to create a single image, or chronophotograph, that reveals the shapes of their flight paths against Catalonian skies. His work shows the variety and beauty to be found in the daily activities of the local birds, including spiralling storks, swooping starlings and giddy swifts. Here: European herring gulls at Llobregat Delta. (Photo by Xavi Bou/Rex Features/Shutterstock)