Ethnic “Kam” (also known as Dong) women get ready for a traditional wedding ritual known as the “steal the chicken at the drum tower” in a minority Dong village in southwestern Chinese city of Congjiang, Guizhou province, China January 29, 2017. The ceremony held in the ethnic Kam minority village of Gantuan in Guizhou province is based on a tradition dating back some 500 years that was revived and modified in the 1990s for villagers and tourists. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Sabrina Crespo da Silva removes electrical tape from a client at her Sabrina Bronze rooftop salon, where she offers the service of taping on bikini tops which create crisp tan lines, in the Turano favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, January 27, 2022. Even though beaches reopened amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some clients using Sabrina's rooftop service say they are still anxious about returning to the crowded seashore and potentially catching the virus. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

The deserts of Argentina take on a starring role in this photographer’s breathtaking Milky Way shots. Amateur snapper Gonzalo Javier Santile, 46, spent the last two years capturing these rare shots of the galaxy as it arced over deserts in Salta Cafayate, Cordoba Valle de Punilla, Provincia de Buenos Aires and the Rio Negro province. In his pictures, the Milky Way can be admired as it towers over canyons, cacti, bushes, and even small brooks and lakes. (Photo by Gonzalo Javier Santile/Caters News Agency)

“Damien Steven Hirst (born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists (or YBAs), who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist, with his wealth valued at £215m in the 2010 Sunday Times Rich List. During the 1990s his career was closely linked with the collector Charles Saatchi, but increasing frictions came to a head in 2003 and the relationship ended”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Contractors move Damien Hirst's bronze sculpture of a pregnant woman into positionl on October 16, 2012 in Ilfracombe, England. The bronze-clad, sword-wielding 65ft (20m) statue, named “Verity”, has been controversially given to the seaside town by the artist, on a 20-year loan and was erected by crane on the pier. (Photo by Matt Cardy)

Garbage pickers collect ride on donkey cart while looking for recyclable materials at a rubbish dump in the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, August 23, 2016. Despite its huge untapped oil and gas reserves and steadily rising oil output and revenue, 23 percent of the population live below the poverty line, according to the Ministry of Planning. (Photo by Khalid al Mousily/Reuters)

People ride a prototype of a driverless vehicle as it is moves through a pedestrian area in Greenwich, east London, February 11, 2015. Britain has begun testing driverless cars in four cities, launching the first official trials ahead of a series of planned rule reviews to accommodate the new technology. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)

People search for shells on a beach in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar, 17 September 2020. International Coastal Cleanup Day is observed annually on the third Saturday of September and will occur on 19 September this year. (Photo by Nyunt Win/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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)