Ants carry a leaf with a slogan reading “Merkel, Help!”, a reference of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the zoo in Cologne, Germany August 18, 2015. Some of the zoo's 500,000 leaf-cutting ants carry laser-cut leaves with slogans during a campaign to protect the Amazon rain forest, organised by the German branch of World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) and Cologne Zoo. Picture taken through the glass of the display case. (Photo by Ina Fassbender/Reuters)

Surfer Arlen Macpherson sits on his board, which has an electronic shark repellent device installed, at Sydney's Bondi Beach in Australia, August 18, 2015. A spate of shark attacks in Australia has left some of world's top surfing beaches deserted and many people having second thoughts about taking a swim as the summer approaches. Macpherson paid A$390 for a device embedded in his surf board to repel sharks by emitting an electronic force field that overpowers its sensing organs. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

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)

Volunteers try to keep alive some of the hundreds of stranded pilot whales after one of the country's largest recorded mass whale strandings, in Golden Bay, at the top of New Zealand's south island, February 10, 2017. Volunteers in New Zealand managed to refloat about 100 surviving pilot whales on Saturday, February 11, 2017 and are hoping they will swim back out to sea after more than 400 of the creatures swam aground at a remote beach. (Photo by Ross Wearing/Reuters)

Pictures from Tasmania’s central plateau, shot by wilderness photographer Dan Broun, show the extraordinary damage wrought by more than a week of bushfires following lightning strikes in Australia’s southernmost state on January 13. 2016. The world heritage area was home to a range of unique alpine flora including pencil pines, king billy pines and cushion plants, some more than 1,000 years old. Now more than 10,000ha of land has been incinerated, and ecologist say that, unlike eucalyptus trees, the ancient flora will not recover. (Photo by Dan Broun)

Elephants feast on fruits and vegetables during the elephant buffet prior to the start of the 2016 King's Cup Elephant Polo event in Bangkok, Thailand, 10 March 2016. The annual charity event, now in its 14th edition, runs until 13 March and will involve 18 elephants brought from tourist trekking camps in Pattaya as well as some unemployed in Surin. A total of 10 teams encompassing over 40 players will take part in the event directed at raising funds to improve the lives of elephants and elephant conservation. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA)

Photographer Dotan Saguy visited Cuba expecting to find resentment toward Americans, but he says that, instead, “Every Cuban I met was warm and welcoming despite me being an American”. Here: Several groups of locals relax on the Malecon in Old Havana, Cuba May 1, 2016. Some chat and drink rum while others dive into the warm Caribbean Sea. (Photo by Dotan Saguy)

Natural world and wildlife shortlist. Lop Buri in Thailand is home to hundreds of macaques, which local residents consider to be disciples of the Hindu god Hanuman. While some people love them, others fear or even hate them. Despite the inconvenience they often cause, the macaques are generally respected and considered sacred. (Photo by Joan de la Malla/Sony World Photography Awards)