They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and these striking images of 2017 are no exception. The photo highlights include incredible snapshots of the natural world as well as some awesome animal and human encounters. The vibrant gallery also shows thrill-seekers pushing themselves to the limit with breathtaking stunts captured in perfect clarity. The pictures have been taken by a host of photographers from around the world. Here: The two lion cubs singing their hearts out at Antelope park in Zimbabwe. (Photo by David Jenkins/Caters News Agency)

Members of rival teams fight with oranges during an annual carnival battle in the northern Italian town of Ivrea, Italy on February 11, 2018. Established in 1808, the Carnival of Ivrea is one of the oldest and most particular festivals in the world. (Photo by Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)

Gray whale feeding at the surface and showing it's baleen. (Photo by Christopher Swann/Biosphoto)

A Guarani Indian woman jokes with her son in the village of Pyau at Jaragua district, in Sao Paulo April 27, 2015. The National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) has recognised 521 hectares of this area as indigenous territory, making it the smallest indigenous reserve in Brazil. Members of the Guarani community have now established a new village outside the demarcation and are being threatened with an eviction through a court order. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Men at work at the Cardiff Institute, making huge baskets, unique in size and construction, for loading oil cake in South Africa. (Photo by Maeers/Getty Images). 1938

A Syrian refugee girl cries as she walks through a rainstorm towards Greece's border with Macedonia, near the Greek village of Idomeni, September 10, 2015. Most of the people flooding into Europe are refes fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries who have a legal right to seek asylum, the United Nations said on Tuesday. (Photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

A traditional Russian nesting doll painted with the likeness of President of Donald Trump and his family is displayed for sale at a Moscow store on March 5, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. Relations between the United States and Russia are at their lowest point in years as evidence mounts about the complex relationship between President Donald Trump's administration and the Russian government. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Clash of the storms, New Mexico, US by Camelia Czuchnicki. “A clash between two storm cells in New Mexico, US, each with its own rotating updraft. The curved striations of the oldest noticeable against the new bubbling convection of the newer. It was a fantastic sight to watch and it’s the rarity of such scenes that keep drawing me back to the US Plains each year”. (Photo by Camelia Czuchnicki/Weather Photographer of the Year 2016)