With only a few weeks left until 2017 comes to an end, National Geographic has compiled a concise list of the 57 best images of the year, chosen from their archives.

It’s been quite a lengthy slimming down process, with National Geographic stating that the list has been “curated from 88 photographers, 112 stories, and nearly 2 million photographs.” The worldly collection consists of vivacious colour, remote cultures, breathtaking natural landscapes, rare wildlife and even grizzly murders. See our favourites from the batch below, and find all 57 entries (and their accompanying anecdotes) over at National Geographic:

A tourist on a boat in Laguna San Ignacio reaches into the water in the hope of petting one of many gray whales that frequent the bay to mate and care for their young. Once feared by fishermen, the unusually friendly animals are now a crucial part of the economy. – Photograph by Thomas P.Peschak

As darkness falls on Guassa, geladas break into a run down a slope toward their sleeping cliffs. They will spend the night perched on narrow rocky ledges, trying to stay safe from leopards, hyenas, and feral dogs. – Photograph by Jeffrey Kerby & Trevor Beck Frost

Wearing a curtain and a cardboard crown, Kristina Khudi becomes the “tundra princess” in the Nenets camp near the Kara Sea. The eight-year-old says her happiest time is summer, when a helicopter sent by Gazprom and the regional government brings her and other kids home from school to their migrating families. – Photograph by Evgenia Arbugaeva

In Seoul, e-stadiums and gaming parlors charge about a dollar an hour, and some venues are open around the clock. Soon after South Korea made super-high-speed Internet cheap and widely available, it became clear that some people were ruining their lives through obsessive game playing. The government now pays for treatment. – Photograph by Max Aguilera-Hellweg

In 2011, the Zetas cartel, seeking revenge against members believed to be informants, rampaged through Allende and neighboring towns, killing dozens, and possibly hundreds. For this stricken community, the Day of the Dead holiday, when Mexicans honor their ancestors, has taken on extra poignancy. – Photograph by Kirsten Luce

Angelito Luciano, 41, was a local volunteer community official who assisted police with anti-drug operations. He was killed in what appears to be a drug-related execution, according to police reports. – Photograph by Adam Dean

Geladas huddle for warmth. Getting enough calories from grass, herbs, and seeds takes a lot of work, so geladas spend most of their days scooting around on their buttocks. This frees up their hands to pluck more grass. – Photograph by Jeffrey Kerby & Trevor Beck Frost

A hunter carries the pelt of a mountain lion he shot this year in southern Utah. Winter is prime hunting season because the cats are easier to track on snowy ground. Each season the state sets a hunt quota, a number determined in part by how many livestock lions killed the year before. In 2016 they killed 416 sheep and other farm animals, and during the 2016-17 season hunters took 399 lions. – Photograph by David Chancellor

Mauli Dhan climbs a hundred feet up a bamboo rope ladder to his prize: a hive filled with neurotoxic honey. Smoke from smoldering grass disorients the bees, possibly reducing the number of stings Mauli will suffer. Before he grabs the support rope beside him, a misstep could be fatal. – Photograph by Renan Ozturk

A 10-month-old jaguar cub is caught in the infrared beam of a camera trap as it returns to the safety of a tree in Brazil’s Pantanal region, the world’s largest tropical wetland and one of the last bastions for jaguars. Mothers coax cubs into climbing trees early on so they can learn to avoid predators. – Photograph by Steve Winter

Roger Matthews (left) and Aaron Rodwell stand next to a 15 foot, approximately 1500 pound, male saltwater crocodile that they legally caught and killed in the Northern Territory of Australia. – Photography by Trevor Beck Frost

The DMZ Peace Train carries South Korean soldiers and tourists from Seoul to train terminals closest to the DMZ. Each cabin has a different theme—peace, love, and harmony—which were designed to inspire feelings of hope and reconciliation. – Photograph by David Guttenfelder

The desire to teach their children about computers drew these Samburu women to a classroom in a settlement north of Nairobi. They are learning about tablets—designed to withstand tough use—that connect to the Internet through a satellite and come preloaded with educational programs. Technology now has arrived in isolated regions of Africa primarily in the form of relatively inexpensive cell phones. – Photograph by Ciril Jazbec

After over two weeks without medication for kidney disease, Oseas Ríos was so weak he could hardly walk. Mediums who are adherents of the religious cult of María Lionza channel Viking spirits in a healing ceremony for him at the base of Sorte Mountain, near Chivacoa, Venezuela. – Photograph by Meridith Kohut

Bare-knuckled and poised to punch, boys from the Venda tribe in Tshifudi, South Africa, engage in the boxing tradition known as ‘musangwe.’ For boys as young as nine, it’s both an outlet for male energy and a check on aggression. Adults oversee the bouts to contain the violence. – Photograph by Pete Muller

A curious young Weddell seal, weeks old, comes in for a close-up. It may have been the pups’ first swim, says marine biologist Pierre Chevaldonné, who has worked at Dumont d’Urville. Weddell seals are the most southerly breeding mammal in the world. – Photograph by Laurent Ballesta