Behaviour: Mammals category. Giant Gathering by Tony Wu, USA. Dozens of sperm whales mingled noisily off Sri Lanka’s northeast coast, stacked as far down as Tony could see. This was a congregation of dozens of social units, like a gathering of the clans. Aggregations like this could be a critical part of the whales’ rich social lives but are rarely reported. Some two thirds of the population was wiped out before commercial whaling was banned in 1986. This kind of major gathering could be “a sign that populations are recovering”, says Tony. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017)

An Afghan hunter shoots at a duck in Laghman province, Afghanistan on May 30, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/Parwiz)

A Gnawa traditional group performs in the city of Essaouira on December 14, 2019, to celebrate the decision of adding the Gnawa culture to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Gnawa culture, a centuries-old Moroccan practice rooted in music, African rituals and Sufi traditions, was added to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity earlier in the week. Gnawa refers to a “set of musical productions, fraternal practices and therapeutic rituals where the secular mixes with the sacred”, according to the nomination submitted by Morocco. Often dressed in colourful outfits, Gnawa musicians play the guenbri, a type of lute with three strings, accompanied by steel castanets called krakebs. (Photo by Fadel Senna/AFP Photo)

Iraqi children play with a ball on a street blocked with burning tyres, amid a general strike in the southern city of Basra, on November 25, 2019. The demonstrations rocking the capital and Shiite-majority south since October 1 are the biggest grassroots movement the country has seen in decades. Sparked by outrage over rampant government corruption, poor services and lack of jobs, they have since gone straight to the source: calling out the ruling system as inherently flawed and in need of a total overhaul. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

A Kashmiri man cover his head with plastic bag as it snows in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, November 7, 2019. The region received its first snow on Wednesday, bringing temperatures down drastically and affecting air and vehicular traffic. (Photo by Mukhtar Khan/AP Photo)

A woman, wearing a traditional Sevillana dress, performs as she asks for alms in downtown Malaga, Spain, April 28, 2016. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)

A housewife whose family lives in a shanty cooks beside a road in Manila, Philippines May 25, 2016. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

F/A-18 fighter jet takes off from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean Sea June 13, 2016. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)