13-year-old Emmanuel Festo from Tanzania poses for a portrait with a plush toy that he says makes him feel safe at night and that he sleeps with, in New York's Staten Island, September 21, 2015. Albino body parts are highly valued in witchcraft and can fetch a high price. Superstition leads many to believe albino children are ghosts who bring bad luck. Some believe the limbs are more potent if the victims scream during amputation, according to a 2013 United Nations report. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Is it a leaf? Is it tree bark? No, it’s the Satanic leaf-tailed gecko. Cleverly disguised as a rotting leaf, Madagascar’s camouflage king has red eyes, pointy horns and a taste for night hunting: it’s nature’s most devilish deceiver. The twisted body and veiny skin echo the detail of a dry leaf, which ensures the gecko blends in with its forest home. The mottled tail appears to have sections missing, as though it has withered over time. This mini-monster epitomises survival of the fittest, having adapted gradually to become today’s extraordinary leaf impersonator. (Photo by Thomas Marent/ARDEA)

Takeoka Chisaka, Hiroshima, Japan. “One morning in August 1945, I was walking home from the night shift at a factory in Hiroshima. As I reached my door, there was a huge explosion. When I came to, my head was bleeding and I had been blasted 30m away. The atomic bomb had detonated. When I found my mother, her eyes were badly burned. A doctor said they had to come out, but he didn’t have the proper tools so used a knife instead. It was hellish. I became a peace-worker after the war. In the 1960s, at a meeting at the UN, I met one of the people who created the atomic bomb. He apologised”. (Photo and caption by Sasha Maslov)

A painting of Chinese President Xi Jinping holding an umbrella is seen on the toilet wall in a guesthouse in Hong Kong December 30, 2014. Set up in a small apartment in the Causeway Bay shopping district, the guesthouse that gives what it calls “Umbrella Revolution Occupation Experience” charges guest HK$100 (US$13) a night to stay in a tent surrounded by pro-democracy banners, a cardboard cutout of President Xi Jinping holding a yellow umbrella, and serve toilet paper printed with the face of embattled leader of Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Onlookers gather around a struggling beached whale in the Yoff neighborhood of Dakar, Senegal Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Residents worked Wednesday morning to save some of the more than 80 whales that were stranded on the beach Tuesday night. This whale was successfully towed out to sea by a fishing boat, though at least 20 others lay dead on the beach by midday Wednesday. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

A view from the opening night of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Camping World Team Series in New York City, New York, United States on August 9, 2024. New York Mavericks earned an upset win against Kansas City Outlaws during their hometown debut at the Barclays Center. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Madison Sager (L), Jocelyn Sager and Susan Ihry (C) make their way through the West Acres Mall JCPenney store after 3 a.m. on November 25, 2011 in Fargo, North Dakota. The trio began shopping at 10 p.m. the night before at Walmart. (Photo by Chris Franz/Getty Images)

Belarussian policemen detain a woman in central Minsk on August 11, 2020. Thousands of opposition supporters who also protested the results met with a tough police crackdown in Minsk and several other Belarusian cities for two straight nights. (Photo by Uladz Hrydzin/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)