BEST PHOTOS OF 2017, (2017年最佳照片),(MEJORES FOTOS DE 2017)...

Here is a gallery of National Geographic's 15 best images of the year—curated from 91 photographers, 107 stories, and 2,290,225 photographs

Kirill Vselensky perches on a cornice in Moscow as Dima Balashov gets the shot. The 24-year-olds, risktakers known as rooftoppers, celebrate their feats on Instagram.

This photo was originally published in "Why Many Young Russians See a Hero in Putin," PHOTOGRAPH BY GERD LUDWIG

As an evening storm lights up the sky near Wood River, Nebraska, about 413,000 sandhill cranes arrive to roost in the shallows of the Platte River.

This photo was originally published in "What Happens to the U.S. Midwest When the Water's Gone?," PHOTOGRAPH BY RANDY OLSON .

A diver keeps a close watch on a tiger shark in the Bahamas. But the scene may not be as dangerous as it looks: Tigers rely on surprise to hunt prey and are unlikely to attack divers who keep them in sight.

This photo was originally published in "He Went Face-to-Face With Tiger Sharks,"PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN SKERRY .

Ye Ye, a 16-year-old giant panda, lounges in a wild enclosure at a conservation center in China’s Wolong Nature Reserve.

This photo was originally published in "Pandas Get to Know Their Wild Side," PHOTOGRAPH BY AMI VITALE .

Eye-care workers use test-lens frames to conduct eye exams in India’s Sundarbans region. Their goal: to help reduce India’s blind population of more than eight million.

This photo was originally published in "Why There’s New Hope About Ending Blindness," PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENT STIRTON .

Tempted by the fruit of a strangler fig, a Bornean orangutan climbs 100 feet into the canopy. With males weighing as much as 200 pounds, orangutans are the world’s largest tree-dwelling animals.

This photo was originally published in "Inside the Private Lives of Orangutans," PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM LAMAN .

A pet saddleback tamarin hangs on to Yoina Mameria Nontsotega as the Matsigenka girl takes a dip in the Yomibato River, deep inside Peru’s Manú National Park.

This photo was originally published in "This Park in Peru Is Nature ‘in Its Full Glory’—With Hunters," PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES

Parts of the Yellowstone region are wilder now than they’ve been in a century. Grizzlies are spreading. This one, in Grand Teton National Park, fends off ravens from a bison carcass. Workers moved it away from the road to keep scavengers and tourists apart.

This photo was originally published in "Learning to Let the Wild Be Wild in Yellowstone," PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES .

Twilight bathes the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia at Delphi. Pilgrims in ancient Greece may have offered sacrifices here before consulting the oracle of Delphi.

This photo was originally published in "How the Greeks Changed the Idea of the Afterlife,"PHOTOGRAPH BY VINCENT J. MUSI AT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF DELPHI .

A baby African white-bellied tree pangolin hitches a ride on its mother at Pangolin Conservation, a nonprofit organization in St. Augustine, Florida.

This photo was originally published in "Documenting the World’s Animals, One Picture at a Time,"PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE .

Tortoises jockey for shelter from the sun. They will cook in their shells if they remain in the heat for too long.

This photo was originally published in "Cave-Dwelling Giant Tortoises Are a Big Surprise," PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS PESCHAK .

Photographs and paintings of sights such as this—the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone— inspired Congress to create the park in 1872. It was a revolutionary step.

This photo was originally published in "Learning to Let the Wild Be Wild in Yellowstone," PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL NICHOLS .

The carcass of a bison that drowned in the Yellowstone River became a feast for this wolf and her two-year-old offspring.

This photo was originally published in "Yellowstone: Wild Heart of a Continent," PHOTOGRAPH BY RONAN DONOVAN .

Steven Donovan, flipping into a pool, took a seasonal job at Glacier National Park to sharpen his photography skills.

This photo was originally published in "Can the Selfie Generation Unplug and Get Into Parks?" PHOTOGRAPH BY COREY ARNOLD .

To track changes in sea ice, the Norwegian research vessel Lance drifted along with it for five months in 2015, on a rare voyage from Arctic winter into spring.

This photo was originally published in "Extreme Research Shows How Arctic Ice Is Dwindling," PHOTOGRAPH BY NICK COBBING .