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)

Goodwood racegoers run for cover from a sudden rainstorm on Ladies Day, the third day of the horseracing festival at Goodwood Racecourse on July 31, 2025 in Chichester, England. (Photo by The Times)

Italian disabled dancer Simona Atzori (top) performs, before a special audience with disabled athletes led by Pope Francis, in Paul VI hall at the Vatican October 4, 2014. (Photo by Tony Gentile/Reuters)

A girl plays at the West Side Hallo Fest, a Halloween festival in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, October 27, 2023. Tens of thousands streamed last weekend to Bucharest's Angels' Island peninsula for what was the biggest Halloween festival in the Eastern European nation since the fall of Communism. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

Actress Riley Keough reacts to the cameras at the Baby2Baby 10-Year Gala in Los Angeles, California on November 13, 2021. (Photo by Action Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A Lockheed Super Constellation “Super Connie” lands during the Air14 airshow at the airport in Payerne August 30, 2014. The Swiss Air Force celebrates their 100th anniversary with the biggest airshow in Europe this year. (Photo by Ruben Sprich/Reuters)

Members of the Mayossa folk dance group pour water on a young woman in Kiskunmajsa, Hungary on April 2, 2018. According to an old Hungarian tradition, celebrated for several hundred years, young men pour water on young women, who in exchange present their sprinklers with beautifully colored eggs on Easter Monday. (Photo by Sandor Ujvari/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A man takes a photograph of his friend as thick smoke rises from a fire, which broke out at oil wells set ablaze by Islamic State militants before they fled the oil-producing region of Qayyara, Iraq, January 28, 2017. (Photo by Muhammad Hamed/Reuters)