Brian Skerry can be called many things – explorer, journalist, conservation advocate – but he is first and foremost a photographer. His journeys to capture amazing underwater photographs have taken him across the world’s oceans. Photo: This Bahamian oceanic whitetip shark, known for the distinctive coloring on its white-tipped, rounded extremities, is part of a globally threatened species due to overfishing demands, primarily for its fins. (Photo by Brian Skerry)

“Tasty Nature” by Dipesh Bhatt. “The blue banded bee (Amegilla cingulata) is pointing this sheath towards the flowers in preparation for sipping nectar”. Taken in Gujarat, India. (Photo by Dipesh Bhatt/2016 Royal Society of Biology Photographer of the Year competition)

This is the moment a dog who had his legs cut off as a punishment, is able to walk again thanks to prosthetic limbs, and being rescued by John and Gill Dalley, a couple who moved to Phuket, Thailand, from Leeds to set up the Soi Dog Foundation, August 1, 2016. (Photo by Caters News Agency)

A dog is kept at a pen at the newly opened Central Zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday, August 23, 2016. One of the most popular attractions at the zoo might come as a surprise to foreign visitors. Just across the way from the hippopotamus pen and the reptile house, dozens of varieties of dogs, including schnauzers, German shepherds, Shih Tzus and Saint Bernards – are on display in the “dog pavilion”. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

Hamish the polar bear tries out his new enclosure at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park at Branton, Doncaster on November 6, 2020, after moving from the Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland. Hamish was the first polar bear to be born in the UK. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Wire Press Association)

These Eurasian Otters seem ready for any danger as they all stand up on thier hind legs alert to any threats near to the English river bank. Amateur photographer and retired MOD worker Tony Moir, 57, spotted the otters whilst looking for kingfishers to photograph near the river Trent in East Yorkshire, UK. He was able to take just a couple of pictures before the excited animals spotted the photographer and ran away. (Photo by Tony Moir/Solent News)

Global wildlife populations will decline by 67% by 2020 unless urgent action is taken to reduce human impact on species and ecosystems, warns the biennial Living Planet Index report from WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) and ZSL (Zoological Society of London). From elephants to eels, here are some of the wildlife populations most affected by human activity. Here: The maned wolf is among the large mammals in the Brazilian Cerrado that are threatened by the increasing conversion of grasslands into farmland for grazing and growing crops. (Photo by Ben Cranke/Nature Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo)

In this January 7, 2016, photo, conservationists of Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation hold a baby orangutan rescued along with its mother during a rescue and release operation for orangutans trapped in a swath of jungle in Sungai Mangkutub, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Last year's forest fires drove orangutans closer to the river bank, where they had to live in an over-populated swath of forest as thin as 30 meters wide along the river. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)