A Wallcreeper (aka Tichodroma muraria) flies to a flower on January 28, 2024 in Leshan, Sichuan Province of China. (Photo by Zhou Zhiyong/VCG via Getty Images)

A gosling sits in the plumage of its mother, in a meadow in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, April 13, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A walrus takes centre stage after barging another out of the way to be in a photograph in Svalbard, between mainland Norway and the North Pole in January 2025. (Photo by Olav Thokle/Syndicated Photos/Solent News)

A meerkat stands guard as her pups cuddle at Mountain Zebra National Park, South Africa early November 2025. (Photo by Nadine Leonard/Two Point O Media)

With the world feeling more distant than ever, photographers were this year called on to translate their vision of the new humanity into images seen through their own eyes. Here: May. (Photo by Ami Vitale/2021 Lavazza Calendar)

Fresh produce and baskets of fish surround a woman at the Siti Khadijah market in Kota Bharu, Malaysia. (Photo by Duratul Ain D.)

A lion cub wakes in the morning sun at the Zimanga private game reserve in South Africa on April 9, 2022. (Photo by Calvin Kotze/Animal News Agency)

Respect, Kronotsky nature reserve, Russia. The photographer’s cat, Ryska – her name means little lynx in Russian – stands outside their cabin and with aggressive posturing warns off a fox. In winter, foxes would regularly visit the cabin searching for food. If one peered in at the window, possible when the snow was deep, Ryska would sit on the other side, fur raised, and growl. When outside, she would hold her ground. The foxes were not always frightened and so encounters could be a sort of dance. (Photo by Igor Shpilenok/Unforgettable Behaviour/NHM)