AP photographers capture stunning scenes of nature and wildlife in 2024

An insect hovers near flowers decorating the area around the holy remains of St. Dimitrie Bassarabov, the patron saint of the Romanian capital Bucharest. 

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 in the Taunus forest 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.

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)

Deer cross a road in the Taunus forest in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A Grey heron preening its features on a lake in city park in Tallinn, Estonia, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

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 gosling sits in its mother's plumage in a meadow in Frankfurt, Germany, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

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 bee flies to a sunflower on a field in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

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)

Deer rut in the early morning fog in Bushy Park, south west London, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

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 beetle basks in the sun on a city meadow in Tallinn, Estonia, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

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)

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)

An adult periodical cicada sheds its nymphal skin on May 11, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A cormorant gets a running start to take off from the calm waters of Northeast Harbor, Maine, at sunrise Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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 wild boar runs through the deep grass in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, early Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A pair of bald eagles call out while resting on a tree next to Union Bay, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

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 colony of sea lions rest at Playa Mann on San Cristobal Island, Ecuador in the Galapagos on Sunday, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski)

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)

Two giraffes roam around Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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 pheasant flaps its wings in a meadow in Frankfurt, Germany, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

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 hare runs in a field on the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

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Lead photo: An insect hovers near flowers decorating the area around the holy remains of Saint Dimitrie Bassarabov, the patron saint of the Romanian capital, at the end of a religious procession in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

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