November 8, 2011. A sedated black rhino is carried by military helicopter away from a poaching area in the hills of the Eastern Cape in South Africa to a new home 15 miles away. The World Wildlife Fund organized the move of 1,000 rhinos, which are under threat from poachers across Africa because of the market value of their horns.Green Renaissance—EPA
The year 2011 brought us dramatic and unexpected images from some of the world’s major news events, including the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, the violent end of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s rule and the humiliating tweet that ruined New York Representative Anthony Weiner’s career. But beyond the widely seen and iconic images that accompanied the year’s biggest events, like the death of Osama bin Laden and the shooting of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, were unusual, equally astonishing and startling images that rested at the periphery of the news. A cat with two faces, rail tracks buckled by the shifting earth after a quake in New Zealand, the police rescue of a girl held hostage by her father, a suicidal bride and beautiful, abstract images taken from space by an astronaut photographer — these are just a few of the compelling and surprising images to have emerged beyond the main news cycle this year. Here, LightBox looks back at a small selection of the underreported, improbable and astounding images that caught the attention of TIME’s photo editors.
A monkey rides on the back of a bull during a bullfighting event at the festival of El Senor de Esquipulas at Tipitapa, some 16 miles (26 km) north of Managua, on Jan. 16, 2011.Oswaldo Rivas / ReutersA rail line buckled by the shifting earth is pictured in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Feb. 23, 2011, a day after a deadly 6.3-magnitude earthquake rocked the city. Hundreds of rescuers swarmed twisted and smoking buildings in a frantic search for survivors. The catastrophic quake left nearly 400 dead or missing. Marty Melville / AFP / Getty ImagesFreddy Nock from Switzerland balances on the ropeway of a cable car leading to Germany's highest mountain, the 9,718-ft. (2,962 m) Zugspitze, near the southern Bavarian resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, on Aug. 20, 2011. Nock balanced on the 3,264-ft. (995 m) rope to break his own world record, as part of a charity event. Michaela Rehle / ReutersA man from the cattle-herding Mundari tribe washes himself with cow urine in a settlement near Terekeka, Central Equatoria state, Sudan, on Jan. 19, 2011. South Sudanese voted overwhelmingly to declare independence from the north in a January referendum. Goran Tomasevic / ReutersA dead oak tree glows under a full moon in a salt pan on the southern end of the Salton Sea near Niland, Calif., on Jan. 20 2011. Erosion and high toxicity levels from farm runoff have left the Salton Sea increasingly contaminated and lakeside towns all but deserted. Jim Lo Scalzo / EPAA prison-transport vehicle sinks into a river after it was allegedly commandeered by escaped prisoners on the outskirts of Cairo. Several prisons saw revolts and break-ins after police retreated from most areas. Jan. 31, 2011Dominic Nahr / Magnum for TIMEA man wearing a mask and covered in animal entrails lies on a tree on the ground during carnival celebrations in Zubieta, Spain, on Feb. 1, 2011. People from the northern Navarre community dressed in bizarre and terrifying costumes and created mayhem and loud noise levels to symbolically awaken the earth for the oncoming spring. Vincent West / ReutersOne of many beautiful photographs of Earth taken by European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli during a 159-day mission aboard the International Space Station. Bahia Anegada, Argentina, Feb. 14, 2011ESA / NASA The body of a Muammar Gaddafi loyalist lies on the ground as smoke billows from damaged tanks belonging to Gaddafi forces in al-Wayfiyah, Libya, 22 miles (35 km) west of Benghazi, after being hit by French warplanes. March 3, 2011Alfred / SipaThe body of an elderly woman lies next to the stairs in her home in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, northeastern Japan, on March 13, 2011, two days after the earthquake and tsunami struck the country.David Guttenfelder / APA rebel fighter carries a weapon outside Ajdabiyah, Libya, on March 21, 2011. A wave of air strikes hit Muammar Gaddafi's troops around Ajdabiyah, a strategic town in the barren scrub of eastern Libya, which rebels aimed to retake and where their fighters said they needed more help to take the battle to the enemy. Finbarr O'Reilly / ReutersAn alien doll is abandoned as wind blows dust at a rubble-collection point in the tsunami-devastated coastal town of Onagawa, Miyagi prefecture, northeastern Japan, on April 5, 2011. More than 12,000 people were confirmed killed by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March.Dai Kurokawa / EPADense brush covers a section of Jones Beach Island in New York, which was searched by Nassau County police for human remains. Police found two new bodies, bringing the total to 10 found on Long Island, and were working on the theory that a serial killer may have been in the area. April 11, 2011Spencer Platt / Getty ImagesA shrine rests in the woods in Kesennuma City, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, on April 14, 2011. Japan's seismologists were so entrenched in outdated beliefs about seismic hazards that they became blinkered to the risk of the March 11 mega-quake, commentary in a top science journal charged. Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP / Getty ImagesHallel Goldamna, 13, wears a wedding dress as she holds a sign for Canadian singer Justin Bieber ahead of his concert in Tel Aviv. April 14, 2011Ariel Schalit / APSoldiers from the Invisible Commandos, loyal to Ibrahim Coulibaly, practice ambush techniques without weapons in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on April 19, 2011. Rebecca Blackwell / AP A monkey wears a mask during a Topeng Monyet (Monkey Mask) show, a traditional Indonesian street performance, in eastern Jakarta on April 25, 2011. Beawiharta / ReutersMetal was turned to liquid from the intense heat of a wildfire outside a destroyed home in the Gaines Bend neighborhood near Strawn, Texas, April 26, 2011. More than 167 homes were destroyed by the fire, which moved through the area in April.Tom Pennington / Getty ImagesPolice spray Ugandan opposition leaders with colored water during demonstrations in the capital of Kampala on May 10, 2011. President Yoweri Museveni vowed to crush the protests and blamed rising food and fuel costs on drought and global increases in oil prices. James Akena / ReutersMay 15, 2011. An undercover Israeli policeman dressed as a Palestinian woman opens a car door after detaining a Palestinian protester during clashes in Shuafat refugee camp, in the West Bank near Jerusalem. Israeli security forces had been on alert for violence on Sunday, the day Palestinians mourn the "Nakba," or catastrophe, of Israel's founding in a 1948 war, when hundreds of thousands of their brethren fled or were forced to leave their homes. Baz Ratner—ReutersMay 16, 2011. The hand of a corpse hangs from a bed with a syringe that is being used by forensic experts at a makeshift morgue inside a refrigerated container as they try to identify bodies found in mass clandestine graves in Durango, Mexico. Dario Lopez-Mills—AP PhotoMay 17, 2011. A 22-year-old woman in a wedding gown is grabbed by Guo Zhongfan, a local community officer, as she attempts to kill herself by jumping out of a seven-storey residential building in Changchun, Jilin province. The woman tried to commit suicide after her boyfriend of four years broke up with her, just as they were making plans to get married. The woman did not sustain any injuries during the incident.China Daily—ReutersMay 26, 2011. Icebergs covered in ash from the Grimsvotn volcano eruption, in the glacier lagoon at the base of Vatnajokull, Iceland. Ingolfur Juliusson—ReutersMay 29, 2011. The shadow of a worker using a stick to club a dog before slaughter is seen, at Bambanglipuro village in Bantul, near the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. The Suwardi family has been running a dog slaughter business since 1985, and up to 30 dogs are killed everyday for their meat, which consumers believe can cure skin diseases and boost vitality. Dwi Oblo—ReutersJuly 2, 2011. Prison guards stand around inmate Juan Ramirez Tijerina as he hides in a suitcase during an escape attempt from a prison in Chetumal. Tijerina tried to escape from prison by hiding inside the suitcase after a conjugal visit. Government of Quintana Roo-Secretary of State for Public Security/ReutersJuly 12, 2011. An imprint of an owl is seen on the window of a house. The homeowners returned from holiday to find the imprint on the window of their house in Kendal, north west England. Sally and Duane—ReutersJune 29, 2011. People are dwarfed by the structure of "Supertrees" seen against the financial skyline of Singapore. These "Supertrees" are vertical gardens, embedded with environmentally sustainable functions and range from 25-50-meters in height, and are part of the government's efforts to bring their national gardens into the city center.Wong Maye-E—AP PhotoJuly 29, 2011. 16-year-old Qian Hongyan, from the Yunzhinan Swimming Club for the handicapped, practices during a daily training session at a swimming centre in Kunming, China's Yunnan province. About 30 disabled athletes from the club ages 10 to 22 are training for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Jason Lee—ReutersAugust 9, 2011. Yuan Zichao, principal of Xichan Primary School, plays with students on the ''playground,'' a big stone, in Pingshun, north China's Shanxi Province.There are dozens of ''mini schools'' scattered in the mountainous areas of Pingshun, each having less than 10 people including students and teacher. Yan Yan—Xinhua/ZUMAPRESS.comAugust 13, 2011. Under heavily armoured police guard, Anders Behring Breivik arrives back at Utoya for reconstruction of his terror actions on the island. Breivik (in red T-shirt) was tied with a rope. Trond Solberg—VG/Scanpix Norway/Sipa PressAugust 15, 2011. Villagers attempt to catch a chicken thrown by worshippers into a volcanic crater during the annual Kasada festival at Mount Bromo in Indonesia's East Java province. Villagers and worshippers throw offerings such as livestock and other crops into the volcanic crater to give thanks to the Hindu gods for ensuring their safety and prosperity. Dwi Oblo—ReutersAugust 16, 2011. A woman's confession to a priest at one of the 200 temporary confessionals set up at Madrid's Buen Retiro park. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered in Madrid for a giant open-air mass, launching a six-day youth party for Pope Benedict XVI at a time of economic hardship in Spain. Pedro Armestre—AFP/Getty ImagesSeptember 2, 2011. A dog known as 'Yeti' nurses adopted piglets in Camaguey, Cuba. Yeti has been pulling double-duty nursing not just her own young but also the 14 swine. Franklin Reyes—AP PhotoSeptember 6, 2011. Police officers rescue a girl who was held hostage by a man in Parramatta, an outer Sydney suburb. A man claiming to be carrying a bomb occupied a legal office in Sydney, holding his daughter captive in a security scare believed to be linked to a custody dispute.Daniel Munoz—ReutersSeptember 7, 2011. An area destroyed by wildfire surrounds a water tower in Bastrop, Texas. The fire has destroyed more than 600 homes and blackened about 45 square miles in and around Bastrop. Eric Gay—AP PhotoSeptember 10, 2011. A plane flies through the "Tribute in Lights" in lower Manhattan in New York. New York marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center this year.Eric Thayer—ReutersSeptember 19, 2011. Roses bloom on a field in Bad Nauheim, Germany. Days later, the rose blooms were mowed down and mechanically defoliated to sell the petals to German garden centers. Frank Rumpenhorst—DPA/ZUMAPRESS.comSeptember 28, 2011. A cat with two faces, named Frank and Louie, sits on a mat in his home in Worcester, Massachusetts. The animal is known as a Janus cat, named for the figure in Roman mythology with two faces on one head. Steven Senne—AP PhotoOctober 2011. A hen challenges a stray dog as it comes near to her sick poult before finally attacking the dog in defense of her offspring at Sundarijal village, some 13 Kilometer from capital Kathmandu, Nepal. The hen had four plouts the week before, but three died for unknown reason. She is now acting extremely protective to the poult left, her owner, farmer Sankar Shrestha said. Narendra Shrestha—EPAOctober 25, 2011. Corey Mcintosh harvests what's left of his uncle's corn field on the Missouri River bottom west of Loveland, Iowa. Jeff Beiermann—AP Photo/The Omaha World-HeraldOctober 29, 2011. Sex workers wearing skeleton masks, which represent the Day of the Dead, participate in a procession in Mexico City.Carlos Jasso—ReutersNovember 8, 2011. A sedated black rhino is carried by military helicopter away from a poaching area in the hills of the Eastern Cape in South Africa to a new home 15 miles away. The World Wildlife Fund organized the move of 1,000 rhinos, which are under threat from poachers across Africa because of the market value of their horns.Green Renaissance—EPA
