“Hiding In The Shadows”. This Baby Sandhill taking refuge under Moms wings while sitting on her second egg. I witnessed this baby being born earlier that day,and the next morning saw the other one hatch,what a sight to see. Photo location: Deland, Florida. (Photo and caption by Scott Helfrich/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Beautiful, strange and occasionally alarming pictures from the shortlist for this year’s Wellcome image awards – which celebrate the very best in science photography and imaging – from an x-ray of a bat to a micrograph of a kidney stone. The exhibition opens on 12 March at three science centres and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Photo: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, also commonly known as thale cress. Some of the anthers are open, revealing pollen grains ready for dispersal. Arabidopsis was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced and is widely used as a model organism in molecular and plant biology. Horizontal width of image is 1200 microns. Magnification 100x. (Photo by Stefan Eberhard/Wellcome Images)

People kiss before the start of the Carmelitas street party on the first day of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, February 9, 2024. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)

A tiger is depicted on the helmet of Italy's Federica Brignone at the finish area of an alpine ski, women's World Championships super G, in Meribel, France, Wednesday, February 8, 2023. (Photo by Marco Trovati/AP Photo)

Patience paid off for the photographer who waited for hours to catch a crocodile on Java, the largest Indonesian island in March 2023. (Photo by Tanto Yensen/Solent News)

Children riding on donkeys queue to fill their jerrycans with water from a cistern at a make-shift camp for the internally displaced in Yemen's northern Hajjah province on July 12, 2021, amidst an extreme heat wave and severe water shortage. (Photo by Essa Ahmed/AFP Photo)

Bullet the bulldog skateboards in a seafront area in the city of Vladivostok, on Russia's Pacific coast on August 9, 2021. The 6-year-old dog learnt how to skateboard two years ago thanks to his owner, Sergei Shukshuyev. (Photo by Yuri Smityuk/TASS)

Gemma Sadler models a fabulous Georgian costume, including a wig made from flowers and foliage created by Florist of the Year Helen James, during the staging day for the 2021 Harrogate Autumn Flower Show at Newby Hall, near Ripon, United Kingdom on Thursday, September 16, 2021. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)