Breath of an Arctic fox by Marco Gaiotti, Italy. Marco was watching this little Arctic fox as it incessantly called another nearby. Gradually he noticed the fox’s wet breath was quickly freezing in the air after each call. It was late winter in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, and the air was -35C (-31F). Photographing Arctic foxes is often frustrating, as they are normally running around fast in search of food, but this one was very relaxed and let Marco get close enough to focus on it, with the light glowing perfectly in the background. (Photo by Marco Gaiotti/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)

A sifaka lemur eats leaves at the Berenty Reserve in Toliara province, Madagascar, February 15, 2022. (Photo by Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters)

A monkey carrying a puppy are seen around the park in Dhaka, Bangladesh on November 11, 2022. A monkey was spotted carrying a puppy around the park. The monkey also carried the puppy on its lap and was seen jumping from a tree's branches. Even though monkeys and dogs do not necessarily bond, a different animal friendly relationship was seen in Dhaka. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A majestic elephant visits the watering hole at the Zimanga Private Game Reserve in South Africa under the Milky Way in August 2022. (Photo by Sean Weekly/Animal News Agency)

A highland cow grazing high above the River Tweed at Thormylee in the Scottish Borders strikes a formidable pose in the morning light on May 3, 2023. (Photo by Phil Wilkinson/The Times)

Tens of millions of red crabs make their way across Christmas Island, Australia on November 13, 2021 during their annual migration from the forest to the ocean, swamping roads and bridges. (Photo by Parks Australia/Animal News Agency)

In this June 23, 2015 photo, Ashaninka Indian beauty contestants pose for a photo with members of a visiting music group, hired to perform during the annual founding anniversary festivities, in Otari Nativo, Pichari, Peru. The contestants wear the simple brown dresses of the Ashaninka woman, their faces dotted in a traditional design with a red dye extracted from a spice called achiote. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)