Underwater photographer of the year – winner. Dancing Octopus by Gabriel Barathieu (France). Location: Island of Mayotte, off the coast of south-east Africa. “Balletic and malevolent”, one judge said of this octopus, hunting in a lagoon. Barathieu waited until spring tides when there was just 30cm of water on the flats and plenty of light in the shallows. (Photo by Gabriel Barathieu/UPY2017)

Wildlife category, open shortlist. “Buffaloes and stars”. This picture, taken at Zimanga game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, used an in-camera multiple exposure, with the first lit for the buffaloes and the second focused on the stars. (Photo and caption by Andreas Hemb/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team rider Brad Binder of South Africa speeds through a corner during a MotoGP practice session at the Australian MotoGP on Philip Island on October 18, 2024. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

A baby elephant struggles to climb out of a dam before being rescued by rangers at Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa in the last decade of March 2025, having been pushed into the water by another elephant. (Photo by Anne Laing/Caters News Agency)

The moment baby elephant gets a helping hand to escape the slippery waterhole was caught on camera in the Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in the last decade of August 2025. (Photo by Anne Laing/Caters News Agency)

A group of San Bushmen from the Khomani San community practice their hunter-gatherer craft in the Southern Kalahari desert on October 15, 2009 in the Kalahari, South Africa. One of the largest studies of African genetics by an international team from the University of Pennsylvania, published in April 2009, revealed that the San of Southern Africa are the most genetically diverse on earth, and that the San homeland could be the spot where modern humanity began. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Ranger trainees and trainee dogs simulate an ambush against rhino poachers at the Paramount Group Anti-Poaching training and K9 (canine) academy on November 26, 2014 in Magaliesberg, South Africa. One of the largest of its kind in Africa, the Academy will address the ever increasing need for training of Conservation Officers in anti poaching activities, wildlife contraband detection, specialist K9 solutions and Ranger K9 handler training – all of which have proven success rates in combatting and apprehending poachers and their activities. (Photo by Gianluigi Guercia/AFP Photo)

In this photo taken on Sunday, July 5, 2015, police officers walk along a giant poster to give an improved appearance, in downtown Ufa, Russia. Ufa will host SOC (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summits July 7 to July 9, 2015. (Photo by Vadim Braydov/AP Photo)