Guardian of the Mangroves – Overall Winner. Tanya Houppermans, Cuba. A curious American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) swims right up to Tanya, at Gardens of the Queen (Jardines De La Reina), an archipelago off the coast of Cuba. It has been strictly protected since 1996, and is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. ‍ “The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves and I wanted to capture close ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat. I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical”. (Photo by Tanya Griffin Houppermans/Mangrove Photographer of the Year)

A Hindu woman worships the Sun god in the waters of a lake during the religious festival of Chhath Puja in Agartala, India, November 13, 2018. (Photo by Jayanta Dey/Reuters)

Meropidae are seen on a rock in Van in Turkey on March 03, 2018. (Photo by Ali Ihsan Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Galagos, more commonly known as bush babies, are tiny African primates with remarkable jumping abilities. Thanks to the elastic energy stored in the tendons of their lower legs, small-eared galagos can jump 6 feet straight up in the air. (Photo by Traer Scott/Chronicle Books)

Triston surfs a wave as his father, Todd, watches in Morro Bay. “Hes the most coordinated 3-year-old I've ever seen”, says the 35-year-old captain/paramedic with the Morro Bay Fire Department. (Photo by Joe Johnston/The Tribune of San Luis Obispo)

A jaguar (Panthera onca) growls at the Mata Ciliar association, an organization for the conservation of biodiversity, in Jundiai, Sao Paulo state, Brazil on May 29, 2025. Twenty-five pumas and ten jaguars are currently recovering at the Brazilian Center for the Conservation of Neotropical Felines at Mata Ciliar, a site as large as 40 football fields where monkeys, wild dogs, maned wolves, ocelots, and other regional animals are also rehabilitated. (Photo by Nelson Almeida/AFP Photo)

Giant bamboo cones, used to protect rice from overnight moisture during its drying process, in the Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh in the second decade of April 2025. (Photo by Bipul Ahmed/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A partial solar eclipse is seen in a break in the clouds during rush hour in downtown Wichita Kan., Thursday, October 23, 2014. A partial eclipse occurs when the moon covers a portion of the sun as seen from the Earth. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)