A boy plays at the feet of a statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela on Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, on October 29, 2024. (Photo by Esa Alexander/Reuters)

Portrait category, bronze award winner. Purple-crested Turaco Gallirex porphyreolophus. Lower Mpushini, near Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (Photo by Richard Flack/Bird Photographer of the Year 2022)

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)

A comedic photo of a cheetah appearing to find something hilarious by Dutton Robert for the Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2016, South Africa, April, 2012. (Photo by Dutton Robert/Barcroft Images/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards)

A majestic elephant visits the watering hole at the Zimanga Private Game Reserve in South Africa under the Milky Way in August 2022. (Photo by Sean Weekly/Animal News Agency)

A body surfer rides a high wave at the Wedge on September 1, 2011 in Newport Beach, California. Waves measuring up to 20 feet pounded the beach. A winter storm off the coast of Australia and New Zealand brought unusally hgh serve to the Southern California beaches. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Vivid colors and bizarre shapes come together in a false-color image that could be an illustration for a fantasy story. This labyrinth of exotic features winds its way along the edge of Russia’s Chaunskaya Bay in northeastern Siberia, seen as a vivid blue half-circle at the bottom of the image Two major rivers, the Chaun and Palyavaam, flow into the bay, which in turn opens into the Arctic Ocean. Ribbon lakes and bogs are present throughout the area, created by depressions left by receding glaciers. (Photo by USGS/NASA)

British artist, Mark Coreth sits on top of the “Sydney Ice Bear” carved from a 10 tonne block of ice to illustrate how humans affect climate change in the Arctic at Customs House on June 3, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. The public will be welcomed to touch the bear, and leave an imprint which will begin the melting process and act as a metaphor for how humans affect the environment. The ice bear's has visited six cities on it's global tour since 2009; the visit to Sydney coincides with World Environment Day on June 5. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)