A baby elephant gives himself a dust bath in Kruger National Park, South Africa early November 2022. (Photo by Sylvie Failletaz/Solent News)

A women drink outside the disco bar on September 18, 2020 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. As there have been no recorded cases of community transmission in Wuhan since May, life for residents is returning to normal. (Photo by Getty Images)

Customers crowd around a vibrant mango market in Bangladesh in the second decade of May 2024. Farmers transport the tropical fruit by bicycle, with each cyclist carrying about 200kg. (Photo by Bipul Ahmed/Solent News)

A dramatic rise in owning exotic pets in China is fuelling global demand for threatened species. The growing trade in alligators, snakes, monkeys, crocodiles and spiders is directly linked to species loss in some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Here: A fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is groomed in a pet store in central Beijing. Native to the Sahara in North Africa, the species became a popular pet after being depicted as a character in Disney’s 2016 animated movie Zootopia. Individuals can cost between $2,000–$3,000. (Photo by Sean Gallagher/The Guardian)

Winner – Animal Portraits: The pose by Mogens Trolle, Denmark. A young male proboscis monkey cocks his head slightly and closes his eyes. Unexpected pale blue eyelids now complement his immaculately groomed auburn hair. He poses for a few seconds as if in meditation. He is a wild visitor to the feeding station at Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary in Sabah, Borneo – “the most laid-back character”, says Trolle, “quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen on another monkey” – connects us, he hopes, with a fellow primate. (Photo by Mogens Trolle/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020)

Commandos of the “Underwater Defence” (SAS), the special operation unit of the Turkish Navy take part in a military training in Istanbul, Turkiye on June 13, 2022. (Photo by Ali Atmaca/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

City buildings stand beyond the giant excavated hole left by the Mir mine, a former open pit diamond mine, in Mirny, Russia, on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. OAO Alrosa, the world's largest diamond producer, raised about $1.3 billion in an oversubscribed share sale from investors including Oppenheimer Funds Inc. and Lazard Ltd.'s asset-management unit, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said. (Photo by Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg)

Run by the Society of German Nature Photographers (Gesellschaft Deutscher Tierfotografen), the prestigious annual contest celebrates the best wildlife photography from members in Germany. Here: Landscapes, second place: Florian Smit, “Rainforest” (Danum valley, Borneo). (Photo by Florian Smit/2019 GDT Nature Photographer of the Year)