“Strike Through The Mothership”. Every May for the last 3 years I have driven down to Tornado Alley to capture some amazing storms. This supercell held so much promise to drop a tornado but one small shift in the atmosphere and all that it produced was an extreme lightning show. Photo location: Broken Bow, Nebraska. (Photo and caption by Vanessa Neufeld/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Bao Bao the panda, one of the National Zoological Park’s cutest inhabitants in Washington, D.C., recently celebrated her first birthday on August 23rd. As part of the celebration, Bao Bao got her very own cake. The large tiered cake showcased a big number 1.

A Salvadorean clown going by the name of “Almohadita” poses during National Clown Day celebrations at Beethoven Square in San Salvador December 3, 2014. The Salvadorean congress declared the second Wednesday of December as National Clown Day to honour all Salvadorean clowns in their efforts to bring fun to the country, reported local media. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

“Red Land: Sunset Cloud Village is one of the most picturesque places in Red Land, China. As its name indicates, it's best to see before sunset. The reddish brown soil turns redder after rainfall and after farmers plow the land”. (Photo and comment by Peng Jiang/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)

Racegoers during Ladies Day at the Grand National Festival at Aintree Racecourse on April 13, 2018 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Mercury Press)

People enjoy the fine weather on the coast at Wembury during the first ever nationwide survey to map the location of the threatened and creatures on March 24, 2011 in near Plymouth, England. Often found on the coast, and particularly in the south west of England, the number of oil beetle species found in the UK has halved in the last 100 years and the survey will help establish the whereabouts of the remaining four species and boost efforts to secure their future. The survey is being launched today by Buglife: The Invertebrate Trust and the National Trust in partnership with Natural England and Oxford University Museum of Natural History. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Fresh produce and baskets of fish surround a woman at the Siti Khadijah market in Kota Bharu, Malaysia. (Photo by Duratul Ain D.)

A native Brazilian competes in a tora competition, which is a race while carrying a log, during the Indigenous Youth Games of Pataxos nation in Santa Cruz de Cabralia, Bahia state, Brazil, April 18, 2016. (Photo by Roosevelt Cassio/Reuters)