By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
An insect hovers near flowers decorating the area around the holy remains of the patron saint of the Romanian capital Bucharest.
A municipal worker shows owlets rescued from a fallen tree after a powerful storm in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A municipal worker shows owlets rescued from a fallen tree after a powerful storm in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A municipal worker in Montenegro holds owlets rescued from a fallen tree after a powerful storm in Podgorica. A herd of deer cross a road in a bucolic scene near Frankfurt, Germany.
In a world where war and disaster dominates headlines, the natural world survives and even thrives. AP photographers document it, often spotting beauty even while covering death and destruction.
An animal runs through grass while fleeing flames as the Park Fire tears through the Cohasset community in Butte County, Calif., on July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
An animal runs through grass while fleeing flames as the Park Fire tears through the Cohasset community in Butte County, Calif., on July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A spider waits for his prey in the center of its net covered by water droplets, in the forest outside Tallinn, Estonia, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
A young macaque chews on a leaf in the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud on the island of Bali in Indonesia on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
A polar bear and a cub search for scraps in a large pile of bowhead whale bones left from the village’s subsistence hunting at the end of an unused airstrip near the village of Kaktovik, Alaska, on Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A polar bear and a cub search for scraps in a large pile of bowhead whale bones left from the village’s subsistence hunting at the end of an unused airstrip near the village of Kaktovik, Alaska, on Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A humpback whale breaches off near Iguana Island, Panama, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A peacock displays its tail feathers to hens during their mating ritual on the gardens of the Pimenta Palace Municipal Museum in Lisbon, Friday, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Anteaters play on the grounds of the non-profit wildlife park Selva Teneek where animals are being treated for heat stress amid a continuing heat wave and drought, in Ciudad Valles, Mexico, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mauricio Palos)
Anteaters play on the grounds of the non-profit wildlife park Selva Teneek where animals are being treated for heat stress amid a continuing heat wave and drought, in Ciudad Valles, Mexico, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mauricio Palos)
A bird is hand-fed a worm at the non-profit wildlife park Selva Teneek where animals are being treated for heat stress amid a continuing heat wave and drought, in Ciudad Valles, Mexico, Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mauricio Palos)
A bird is hand-fed a worm at the non-profit wildlife park Selva Teneek where animals are being treated for heat stress amid a continuing heat wave and drought, in Ciudad Valles, Mexico, Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mauricio Palos)
A starling sits on the back of a horse as another looks on at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
A starling sits on the back of a horse as another looks on at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A Chinkara gazelle fawn rests in the plumage of a peacock at an animal rescue center on a hot summer day in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Dinesh Gupta)
A Chinkara gazelle fawn rests in the plumage of a peacock at an animal rescue center on a hot summer day in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Dinesh Gupta)
A black rhino, on the Red List of Threatened Species according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), eats grass at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A black rhino, on the Red List of Threatened Species according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), eats grass at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A hummingbird approaches a flower in the outfield lawn during a spring training baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Surprise, Ariz. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A hummingbird approaches a flower in the outfield lawn during a spring training baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Surprise, Ariz. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
One of the newly-born twin panda bear cubs, named Meng Hao and Meng Tian or Leni and Lotti, looks out of the enclosure, during the official presentation of their names, at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
One of the newly-born twin panda bear cubs, named Meng Hao and Meng Tian or Leni and Lotti, looks out of the enclosure, during the official presentation of their names, at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
A pure-bred Siamese crocodile hatchling pokes its head out of its shell at Phnom Tamao in Cambodia’s Takeo Province, on July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado)
A pure-bred Siamese crocodile hatchling pokes its head out of its shell at Phnom Tamao in Cambodia’s Takeo Province, on July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado)
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