Models showcase designs aboard fishing boats off Ngor Island during the 23rd Dakar Fashion Week, organized by Senegalese-French designer Adama N'Diaye, founder of the brand “Adama Paris”, on December 6, 2025, in Dakar, Senegal. (Photo by Cem Ozdel/Anadolu via Getty Images)

New York City is populated with millions of people that each serve as an essential piece of the city's eclectic pie. The Big Apple's offering of unique and diverse individuals is arguably unmatched. We always hear about what a melting pot this immense metropolis is with its endless supply of quirky characters and the ongoing photo series known as Humans of New York proves it.

In the 1970′s, actress and model Tippi Hedren (mother of actress Melanie Griffith) created the Shambala Preserve after producing the film Roar. The preserve rescued exotic big cats living in captivity that had been abused or were in need of help, one of which the family created a close bond with. Neil the lion lived with the family in their home, and played an active role in the day to day activities of the preserve.

Fishermen move a fishing boat to a safer place along the shore ahead of cyclone Hudhud at Ganjam district in Odisha October 11, 2014. The India Meteorological Department described Cyclone Hudhud as a “very severe” storm that could pack winds of 195 kilometers (120 miles) per hour and cause torrential rains when it makes landfall near the port city of Visakhapatnam around noon Sunday. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Tourists look at would-be immigrants at the Maspalomas beach, on Gran Canaria in Spain's Canary Islands, after some 21 would-be immigrants arrived in a fishing boat on their way to European soil from Africa, November 5, 2014. (Photo by Borja Suarez/Reuters)

Veterinarian William Guerra Neto (2nd R) and an assistant take measurements of two Amazonian manatees who are being rehabilitated after sustaining injuries from hunting and fishing nets at the Center of Amazonian Manatees at Amana Lake in Maraa, Amazonas state, Brazil, September 21, 2015. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

A woman looks at goldfish through the warped wall of a fish tank at the Art Aquarium exhibition in Tokyo July 10, 2015. Several thousand goldfish are displayed in dozens of uniquely shaped tanks, using LED lights, projection mapping and music in a show that was produced by Japanese designer Hidetomo Kimura. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

In this August 31, 2017, photo, mock fish are displayed to offer to the ancestors during the “Hungry Ghost Festival” in Hong Kong. Countless hungry and restless ghosts are roaming Hong Kong, and the world, to visit their living ancestors, at least according to Chinese convention. In traditional Chinese belief, the seventh month of the lunar year is reserved for the Hungry Ghost festival, or Yu Lan, a raucous celebration marked by feasts and music. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)