In this Sunday, May 22, 2016 photo, contestants in the first Miss Trans Israel beauty pageant gather for rehearsal in Tel Aviv, Israel. The pageant will be held at HaBima, Israel's national theater, in Tel Aviv on Friday. Tel Aviv has emerged as one of the world's most LGBT-friendly travel destinations, standing in sharp contrast to most of the rest of the Middle East, where gays can face persecution. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)

Second place, Nature: double trapping. Picture taken in the Brazilian Pantanal ... when I downloaded the CF did not want to believe it ... The nature knows we always give magnificent events but sometimes extraordinary. (Photo by Massimiliano Bencivenni/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Tautumeitas from Latvia performs the song “Bur Man Laimi” during the dress rehearsal for the second semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Photo by Martin Meissner/AP Photo)

The National Geographic Photo Ark is a travelling exhibition of photographer Joel Sartore’s quest to create a photo archive of biodiversity around the world. So far, Sartore has captured studio portraits of more than 6,000 species – a number that he hopes to double. On 1 July, the ark will open at Melbourne zoo – the first time it has been exhibited in the southern hemisphere. More than 50 portraits will be on display, including many of Australian endangered animals being protected by programs at the zoo itself. These captions have been edited from text supplied by Melbourne zoo. Here: Barking owl. (Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark/The Guardian)

Xiren Wang, Lili Wat, and Sitong Chen join the pageant’s opening routine, dancing to “The Boys”, a song by K-Pop group «Girls’ Generation». While the women come from a range of professional backgrounds – including economics, nursing, and acting – every contestant is looking for her big break into the entertainment industry. Most contestants said they would prefer to have a career in the U.S. but would go wherever the opportunity lies. (Photo and caption by John Brecher/Sahra Vang Nguyen/NBC News)

A Snowboarder participates in a waterslide contest, which consists of gliding over a water pool embedded in snow, during the closing event of the ski resort of Nendaz, southwestern Switzerland, Monday, April 21, 2014. (Photo by Maxime Schmid/AP Photo/Keystone)

A competitor wearing a kilt and standing on a barrel throws a bowling ball between her legs during the “Brigaball” contest at the annual Bundanoon Highland Gathering, showcasing traditional Scottish events, held in the town of Bundanoon, located southwest of Sydney, April 9, 2016. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

A participant shows off a belt buckle during the 20th annual Seattle Invitationals, an amateur Elvis impersonator competition, in Seattle, Washington January 23, 2015. The event drew hundreds of spectators for 20 contestants at the Crocodile, a venue in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood. (Photo by David Ryder/Reuters)