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TIME's Top 100 Photos of 2025
Nov 25, 2025 12:00 PM CUT
Ultraviolet light reveals a human handprint on the shell of a green sea turtle—demonstrating a cutting-edge technique for capturing forensic evidence to be used against poachers and animal traffickers.
Ultraviolet light reveals a human handprint on the shell of a green sea turtle—demonstrating a cutting-edge technique for capturing forensic evidence to be used against poachers and animal traffickers.Britta Jaschinski
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TIME Photo Department
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Nov 25, 2025 12:00 PM CUT
We stand at scenic overlooks and lift our lens to capture a post card view that, of course, looks better on a postcard. It’s not about gear, or the 10,000 hours. It’s simply that almost any photograph is improved by having people in it—a lesson TIME’s Top 100 Photographs of 2025 underscores in images that capture not only a year, but also the faint but discernable shadow cast by a less human future.
The moments photojournalists document tend to be most visible on faces: the panic of a fallen runner about to be spiked, the anguish in an immigrant in a headlock, a smiling Buddha toppled in a quake. Robots (in a footrace, at a bedside) serve as comic relief partly because they have no faces. But, as machines, they carry the same ambiguous edge as artificial intelligence. In Ahmedabad, the tail section of an Air India flight juts from a building like a paper airplane that sailed in and stuck. And in Portland, Ore., sworn agents of the United States government all but disappear inside red smoke, body armor and gas masks. — Karl Vick
Buy TIME's Photos of the Year issue here
Displaced Gazans walk toward Gaza City after crossing the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip on Jan. 27, 2025. A stream of people marched up the coast of Gaza carrying their belongings in plastic bags and repurposed flour sacks through the central city of Nuseirat after Israel reopened access to the territory's north. | AFP/Getty Images
A protester wearing a gas mask and the attire of a whirling dervish was pepper-sprayed by police in Istanbul on March 23. Demonstrators were reacting to the government’s detention of opposition politicians, businesspeople, and journalists—arrests they decried as politically motivated. | Chris McGrath—Getty Images
Bedlington Terrier dogs after a competition during the 149th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City on Feb. 11. | Andres Kudacki—Getty Images
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Buddhist monks stand on rubble as they clear up debris at the damaged Thahtay Kyaung Monastery in Mandalay on April 1, four days after a major earthquake struck central Myanmar | Sai Aung Main—AFP/Getty Images
Residents embrace outside of a burning property as the Eaton Fire swept through Altadena, Calif. on Jan. 8 | Ethan Swope—AP
House Speaker Mike Johnson with House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, Rep. and Chairman of the Republican Study Committee August Pfluger, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and other members of the Republican Study Committee during a press conference to discuss the ongoing government shutdown, on Capitol Hill on Oct. 28 | Kylie Cooper—Reuters
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Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters at a protest against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 9, the day before his inauguration for a third term | Ariana Cubillos—AP
Carlos Alcaraz stretches for a forehand during his U.S. Open Men's Final match on Day 15 of the 2025 U.S. Open in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens on Sept. 7 | PI/ZUMA/Reuters
Academy Awards host Conan O'Brien lies on the red carpet during its rollout for the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 26 | Carlos Barria—Reuters
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Lava flows from Mount Etna on Aug. 28. On June 2, the mountain erupted with a pyroclastic blast—a hot, ground-hugging cloud of ash and gas | Marco Restivo—AFP/Getty Images
Palestinians warm themselves by a fire near the rubble of their destroyed house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 3 | Mohammed Salem—Reuters
A Waymo vehicle burned during protests in downtown Los Angeles on June 8 | Ethan Noah Roy
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Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Jalen Hurts does a television interview at the end of Super Bowl LIX, after the Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in New Orleans on Feb. 9 | Chandan Khanna—AFP/Getty Images
After her husband was detained by ICE agents on Aug. 20, a woman with her child wept outside a federal building in New York City; a security guard was moved to tears as well. There was no word at the time on if the detained man faced any criminal charges | Carol Guzy
A search and rescue worker looks through debris for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding in Hunt, Texas, on July 6 | Jim Vondruska—Getty Images
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Attendees at a memorial service for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21 | Adriana Zehbrauskas—The New York Times/Redux
Prince William, Prince George, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte watch the flypast to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day in London on May 5 | Samir Hussein—WireImage/Getty Images
People line up to pay their respects to Pope Francis lying in state inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, on April 25 | Andrew Medichini—AP
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The Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at Kīlauea in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, on April 1. The lava fountain sustained heights of 600 to 700 feet for over 23 hours, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory | Will Matsuda
Law enforcement officers amid smoke from a smoke grenade released to disperse demonstrators in front of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 4 | Carlos Barria—Reuters
Tye Kartye of the Seattle Kraken warms up before the game against the San Jose Sharks at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, on Nov. 5 | Steph Chambers—Getty Images
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Kids playing outside in Little Silver, N.J., on Sept. 2. The Balance Project wants to remake the town to encourage more childhood independence and less screen time | Tonje Thilesen for TIME
A reflection in a framed photo of President-elect Donald Trump at the Turning Point USA Inaugural-Eve Ball in Washington on Jan. 19 | Dina Litovsky—Redux
In the months after the Eaton Fire, flowers—including these roses found emerging from the debris of a home on Harriet Street in the Janes Village section of Altadena—were among the earliest signs of renewal emerging from the burned landscape. Nature’s will to return, despite such enormous loss, became a beacon of hope for the entire community | Kevin Cooley—Redux
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A parent runs toward the school during an active shooter situation at the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, Minn., on Aug. 27 | Richard Tsong-Taatarii—Star Tribune/Getty Images
Photographer and memoirists Sally Mann with her horse at home in Lexington, Va., Aug. 11 | Erinn Springer—The New York Times/Redux
Smoke from Russian shelling rises over a sunflower field in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on July 8 | Ukrinform/NurPhoto/Getty Images
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The crowd reacts to white smoke from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel, indicating that a new pope has been elected, at the Vatican, on May 8 | Marko Djurica—Reuters
Matthew Byrnes of Team Australia enters the water ahead of the Preliminary Round Men's Water Polo match between Australia and Japan on day six of the Singapore 2025 World Aquatics Championships at OCBC Aquatic Centre on July 16 | Adam Pretty—Getty Images
Demonstrators stand off against law enforcement on horseback during a protest in Los Angeles, on June 14 | Ethan Swope—AP
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Faizan Zaki, 13, of Dallas, after winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Md., on May 29 | Ting Shen—The New York Times/Redux
Lesly Karen Cornett surveys the debris of her house the day after a tornado struck the neighborhood of Sunshine Hill outside of London, Ky., on May 18. She and her husband took shelter in their bathtub and were fortunate to only receive a few cuts | Michael Swensen—Getty Images
A child cheers as a Paladin self-propelled howitzer rolls past during a military parade to commemorate the U.S. Army's 250th Birthday in Washington, on June 14 | Jonathan Ernst—Reuters
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Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrive at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, on Oct. 13 | Saher Alghorra—The New York Times/Redux
Columbia University alumni Jess Pearce is arrested during a protest of Columbia University outside the campus during their graduation ceremony in New York City, on May 21 | Alex Kent—The New York Times/Redux
A damaged lying Buddhist statue is pictured inside a pagoda following a strong earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, on April 3 | Stringer/Reuters
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President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Ak., on Aug. 15 | Andrew Harnik—Getty Images
A church worker carries a portrait of the late Pope Francis during a memorial mass at the main cathedral at the El Zocalo Square in Mexico City on April 21 | Yuri Cortez—AFP/Getty Images
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and other participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla arrive at Arlanda Airport, in Stockholm, Sweden on Oct. 7, as they return from detention in Israel for taking part in the aid flotilla bound for Gaza | Fredrik Sandberg—TT News Agency / AFP/Getty Images
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Cars are submerged in mud following Hurricane Melissa in Petit-Goave, southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Oct. 30 | Clarens Siffroy—AFP/Getty Images
A Ukrainian woman carries pets as she runs from her apartment block after Russian bombs exploded in the area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on July 24 | David Guttenfelder—The New York Times/Redux
Hand and leg restraints left over from a pervious deportation flight await collection at Immigration and Customs Enforcement Alexandria Staging Facility in Alexandria, La. on May 29 | Christopher Lee for TIME
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and heads of foreign delegations arrive for a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China on Sept. 3 | Alexander Kazakov—Sputnik/Pool/Reuters
SpaceX launches Falcon 9 Fram2 Mission, from Launch Complex 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Fla. on March 31 | Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo—Getty Images
A woman cooks in the shadows of a former orphanage while children move through adjoining rooms, now converted into living quarters for families displaced from Khartoum. The abandoned compound on the outskirts of Al Junaynah shelters dozens who fled Sudan’s civil war | Moises Saman for TIME
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Elon Musk watches as President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, March 21 | Haiyun Jiang—The New York Times/Redux
Family of Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi, whose wife and two daughters were killed on Oct. 7 attack, react as they watch the live broadcast of him being released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Feb. 8 | Ariel Schalit—AP
Humanoid robots compete in the 100m finals on day three of the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games on Aug. 17 | Lintao Zhang—Getty Images
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A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, on Jan. 7 | Ethan Swope—AP
A drone view of detainees forming the letters SOS with their bodies in the courtyard at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility, where Venezuelans at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling are held, in Anson, Texas, on April 28 | Paul Ratje—Reuters
Gul Chaman, a 43-year-old midwife in Afghanistan’s central Daikundi province, visits a patient and her newborn daughter in July | Elise Blanchard for TIME
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Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldana, and Kieran Culkin pose with their awards in the press room at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 2 | Jordan Strauss—Invision/AP
President Donald Trump arrives to address a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, on March 4 | Win McNamee—Pool/AP
The Blood Worm moon darkens to its signature shade in the sky during a total lunar eclipse over central Wisconsin on March 14 | Gabi Broekema—USA Today Network/Reuters
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Australia's Danielle Scott during the warm up before the Women's Aerials Freestyle Skiing event at the FIS Freestyle World Championships, in St Moritz, Switzerland on March 30 | Claudia Greco—Reuters
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani talks to the press and meets with supporters at a park in Midtown Manhattan, on Oct. 28 | Mark Peterson—Redux
An Afghan tailor stitches burqas inside a shop in Herat on May 13 | Mohsen Karimi—AFP/Getty Images
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Lorraine Smith stands on her porch in Great Bay with her dogs amid flooding following Hurricane Melissa in the Treasure Beach area of Jamaica, on Oct. 29 | Abbie Townsend—The New York Times/Redux
The crowd reacts after Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, is shot at the Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah on Sept. 10 | Tess Crowley—The Deseret News/AP
Grace Clinton of England runs with the ball while under pressure during the UEFA Womens EURO 2025 Group D match between England and Netherlands at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, on July 9 | Fran Santiago—UEFA/Getty Images
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Vehicles driving on a freeway as the sun sets behind smoke from wildfires including the Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, on Jan. 8 | Patrick T. Fallon—AFP/Getty Images
Rescuers attend to a victim outside a residential building hit by a Russian missile in Kyiv, Ukraine on Aug. 28. The missile struck between the third and fourth floors of a five-story house, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, killing at least four people | Kostiantyn Liberov—Libkos/Getty Images
On the night of March 15, three planes touched down in El Salvador, carrying 261 men deported from the United States. A few dozen were Salvadoran, but most of the men were Venezuelans the Trump Administration had designated as gang members and deported with little or no due process | Philip Holsinger
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Cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin in Washington, on March 27 | Matt McClain—The Washington Post/Getty Images
Cynthia Erivo backstage at the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 2 | John Shearer—97th Oscars/The Academy/Getty Images
A person walks past debris after an Air India aircraft, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, crashed during take-off from an airport in Ahmedabad, India on June 12 | Adnan Abidi—Reuters
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A person is detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents inside a fast food restaurant under construction in Charlotte, N.C. on Nov. 19. The man sustained injuries to his face while agents wrestled him to the ground, after he tried to run. Federal Agents are carrying out "Operation Charlotte's Web," an immigration enforcement surge across the Charlotte region | Ryan Murphy—Getty Images
Thousands of charred hectares are seen in the mountains of the municipalities of A Rua and Villamartin de Valdeorras, Galicia, Spain, on Sept. 16. Although the record-breaking wildfires that ripped across Spain and Portugal in August have subsided, residents in rural communities in Spain's northwestern Galicia region battle the aftermath | Nacho Doce—Reuters
Representative Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado, arrives in Statuary Hall ahead of a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, on March 4 | Kent Nishimura—Bloomberg/Getty Images
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People arrive at the Umayyad Mosque for Friday prayer in Damascus, Syria on Jan. 3. After Friday prayers, people gathered in Umayyad Square and chanted slogans calling for the country's freedom and a "new Syria" | Emin Sansar—Anadolu/Getty Images
First lady Melania Trump, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance wave as former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden depart the Capitol after Trump's inauguration ceremony as the 47th president in Washington on Jan. 20 | Doug Mills—The New York Times/Redux
Nuns at St .Peter's Square, near St. Peter's Basilica, in The Vatican, on May 7 | Jeff Pachoud—AFP/Getty Images
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An injured woman sits near her house, which was damaged by a Russian airstrike, in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 24 | Evgeniy Maloletka—AP
Relatives of hostages held in the Gaza Strip attempt to approach the Gaza border, escorted by Israeli soldiers, calling for their release and expressing concerns that the resumption of fighting in Gaza puts their loved ones at risk, on March 18 | Ohad Zwigenberg—AP
The Sacre-Coeur Basilica is seen reflected in the window glass of a taxi as tourists stroll on the Montmartre hill of Paris, on Aug. 1 | Dimitar Dilkoff—AFP/Getty Images
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People pray outside the Parkchester Jame Masjid during the funeral for NYPD Officer Didarul Islam in the Bronx, on July 31 | Amir Hamja—The New York Times/Redux
A view inside of a cabin at Camp Mystic, the sleep-away camp where at least 20 girls went missing after flash flooding in Hunt, Texas, on July 5 | Ronaldo Schemidt—AFP/Getty Images
A mass Iftar dinner is organized for Palestinians to break their fast together on the first day of Ramadan amidst the rubble of a residential area in Rafah, Gaza on March 1 | Ali Jadallah—Anadolu/Getty Images
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A woman demands that Indian security forces release the body of her brother, Muhammad Shafi Parry, who was killed in an explosion at a police station in Srinagar, Indian Kashmir, on Nov. 15 | Sharafat Ali—Reuters
A child weeps as her father is mistakenly detained by federal immigration officers at U.S. immigration court in Manhattan, on June 30 | David 'Dee' Delgado—Reuters
AIREC, an AI-driven humanoid robot, demonstrates a maneuver for changing diapers or preventing bedsores with a researcher at Waseda University's laboratory in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 17 | Kim Kyung-Hoon—Reuters
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Michael Woolf, minister at Lake Street Church of Evanston, is detained by Illinois State Police during a protest against immigration actions, outside the Broadview ICE facility in Chicago, on Nov. 14 | Jim Vondruska—Reuters
A boy floats with a water jug while filling it up amid a shortage of drinking water as M23 rebels retained control of the city in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo on Feb. 1 | Daniel Buuma—Getty Images
Geordie Beamish of Team New Zealand under the foot of Jean-Simon Desgagnes of Team Canada as he falls to the ground during the the Men's 3000 Metres Steeplechase Heats on day one of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 at National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan on Sept. 13 | Emilee Chinn—Getty Images
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Supporters and mourners of Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga take cover after gunshots and teargas were fired during a gathering for the public viewing of his coffin at the Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi on Oct. 16 | Kabir Dhanji—AFP/Getty Images
President Donald Trump looks down from the Presidential Box in the Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as he participates in a guided tour and leads a board meeting in Washington, on March 17. After shunning the annual Kennedy Center Honors during his first term in the White House, Trump fired the center’s president, removed the bipartisan board of Biden appointees, and named himself Chairman | Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images
Workers operate machinery at an open-pit titanium mine in the Zhytomyr region, on Feb. 28, amid the Russian war on Ukraine | Roman Pilipey—AFP/Getty Images
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Mountaineers form a queue as they approach the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, on May 18 | Kunga Sherpa—AP
A juvenile Masai giraffe waits with its eyes covered by a blanket as rangers from Kenya Wildlife Services attempt to load the crate onto a vehicle during an exercise to translocate large herbivores due to land subdivisions and corralling that have disrupted wildlife migratory routes in Naivasha, Nakuru County, on Nov. 16 | Tony Karumba—AFP/Getty Images
Pro-Trump supporters gather at the National Mall before the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump in Washington, on Jan. 20. Cold temperatures forced the ceremony inside, but spectators still gathered outside and around the city to celebrate | Jim Vondruska—Getty Images
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First Lady Melania Trump looks on during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, on Jan. 20 | Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images
Firefighters prepare to attack flames inside Eliot Arts Magnet Middle School auditorium as the school burns during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles on Jan. 8 | Josh Edelson—AFP/Getty Images
An Indigenous demonstrator is held by a staff member as protesters forced their way into the venue hosting the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30), in Belem, Brazil, on Nov. 11 | Anderson Coelho—Reuters
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The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda, in Washington, on Jan. 8 | Andrew Harnik—Pool/Reuters
Caribou cross layered ice sheets on a river in the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on June 25 | Acacia Johnson for NRDC; Photo Producer Sidney Franklin
A Palestinian boy reads in the rubble of a house, following overnight Israeli strikes, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on April 29 | Eyad Baba—AFP/Getty Images
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Fire rages through the Singha Durbar, the main administrative building for the Nepal government, in Kathmandu on Sept. 9, a day after a police crackdown on young demonstrations over social media prohibitions and corruption by the government. Protesters set fire to parliament the day after at least 19 people were killed | Prabin Ranabhat—AFP/Getty Images
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate for South Korea's Democratic Party, prepares to address supporters as he awaits the final results of the presidential election in Seoul on June 4 | Anthony Wallace—AFP/Getty Images
Polar bears at an abandoned research station on Koluchin Island, off Chukotka, Russia, in the country's Far East, on Sept. 14 | Vadim Makhorov—AP