In this February 28, 2015 photo, teammates struggle to lift a bull off the trapped leg of a charro, during the bull riding event at a charreada in Mexico City. National Charros Association President Manuel Basurto Rojas said: “We in charreria are taking things into our own hands. We have codes, we have rules, for how to treat the animals. On the other hand, there is a lot of danger involved for the men doing these tricks”. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

Vladimir Putin shows a hold to a young judo wrestler at the Regional Judo Center at the Arena Sports Complex in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on January 24, 2012, during his visit to the region. Putin is known for his passion for judo, in which he has a black belt. (Photo by AFP Photo/STR)

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)

“Life in War” (FotoEvidence Press) by Iranian photographer Majid Saeedi is probably the only book about Afghanistan that doesn’t show images of war. For ten years his camera photographed daily life in the context of war. His photographs reveal the humanity of a people living through decades of war. Here: Afghan men escape increasing summer temperatures by wading in the Qarga reservoir on July 9, 2010 in a suburb of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

A girl walks in front of a graffiti painted on the wall of a house located inside the 15th-century complex built by Mameluk Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey, in Cairo's City of the Dead, Egypt February 13, 2017. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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)

A handout TV grab made available by the Demiroren News Agency (DHA) on September 12, 2020, shows a freak sandstorm sweeping over Polatli, in Ankara, on September 12, 2020. A freak sandstorm hit Ankara on September 12, 2020, the Turkish capital's mayor said, as officials said six people were injured after strong winds. (Photo by Handout/DHA via AFP Photo)

A stag reacts as magpies and crows fuss over a resting stag as they feed on ticks from the fur of the deer herd roaming on the Ashton Court Estate, Bristol, in crisp and cold Autumnal weather on November 23, 2020. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)