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Featuring all manner of captivating creatures, a handful of photographs compete for public affection and, with them, the People’s Choice Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award.
From an initial pool of 38,575 images, 25 were selected for the short list of this festival organised by the Natural History Museum in London. Anyone can vote for their favorite until nine a. m. Winner on the ninth of February.
The entries chosen are meant to be more than photographs: they are intended to say a lot. Some demonstrate a predator-prey relationship, while others show confrontation or cooperation. Several photographs highlight the negative effects humans have had on wildlife.
Overall, the photographs “tell important stories and relate other people to the disorders of the planet,” Douglas Gurr, director of London’s Natural History Museum, said in a statement.
They do not hesitate to address Covid-19 waste, the complex relationships between humans and animals or the effect of domestic cats on ecosystems. But at the same time, the collection showcases Earth’s biodiversity through striking portraits and unusual perspectives on wildlife. .
Here are the 25 lovely and unexpected photographs chosen for this year’s shortlist.
Golden monkeys with snub-nosed faces lose their habitat due to forest destruction and fragmentation. Now endangered, they live in central China.
Photographer Minqiang Lu knew a place in the Qinling Mountains where a herd of those monkeys rested. To explore the area, he roamed the snow with his camera for about an hour and waited another thirty minutes to capture this image. One, 3 golden monkeys with snub-nosed bumps curl up in front of the cold.
When Lu clicked the shutter, the temperature hovered around 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
Although this is necessarily obvious from the forced appearance of this creature, Barbigant’s seahorses are only a quarter to 3 quarters of an inch long. The male in this photo is clinging to a pink gorgon and is very pregnant. These animals move for about two weeks before giving birth to even smaller live young.
Nicholas More, a photographer from the UK, discovered this seahorse with the help of an advisor who directed it to the animals off Bali.
The symbol of how the Barbigant seahorse can mimic the colors and texture of the host it clings to: the host’s red bumps resemble the pink fan.
This pair of graffiti was eating with their herd in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, when one of them began scratching the head and ear of the other. This bird opened its mouth wide and eyes like saucers, remaining motionless for a few moments.
“You can’t capture the emotion on the faces of birds,” South African photographer Richard Flack said in a statement. “But there was no doubt, she was a happy guinea fowl. “
Due to hunting to meet the increased culinary demand, the American eel is in danger of extinction. They are trapped at the juvenile level when referred to as crystal eels, in reference to their appearance.
During the five-month eel hunting season, many fishermen gather in estuaries along the coast of the Dominican Republic to catch these creatures. In the United States, this hunting is regulated, but it is out of control in the Caribbean.
Here, Dominican photographer Eladio Fernández shows fishermen on the country’s El Limón River with a long-exposure photograph. It took him several nights to visit the river in Fernandez to get this photo with the fishermen’s nets raised.
The African golden cat is one of the least known members of the feline family in the world. It is the wild cat that lives in the forests of Africa, and the species has lost almost a part of its ancient range. About twice the length of a domestic cat. Cat, golden cats are vulnerable to hunting with traps.
American photographer Sebastian Kennerknecht and his friend David Mills, a biologist, installed a camera in Uganda’s Kibale National Park. With him, they captured this photo of the elusive feline loitering at night.
Sometimes photographers spend long hours in adverse weather conditions and return home almost empty-handed. For American photographer Deena Sveinsson, a snowshoe adventure through the forests of Colorado Rockies National Park is shaping up to be one of those days.
But when he was about to leave, he saw a snowshoe hare sitting on a small mound of snow. Preparing his camera, Sveinsson waited for the hare to look up at his lens to capture this photo of the creature with alert ears, chasing after it. directly into the eye.
In South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, Spanish photographer Igor Altuna observed this leopard and its cub. The female leopard was wearing this monkey he had killed, but the monkey’s baby was still clinging to his mother. The little leopard chased the baby monkey for more than an hour before despite everything killing it, receiving a hunting lesson.
Against a background of snow, this red fox salute, a soft snout, filmed by Canadian photographer Brittany Crossman. For those foxes, the mating season is in winter and they are preparing to make their den and raise their young.
It’s one of the most tender moments for fox lovers Crossman has ever seen, according to a statement.
Life and art come face to face in this portrait by Spanish photographer Eduardo Blanco Mendizábal. In his hometown of Corella, in Navarre, he discovered this cat painted on a wall. He returned to this position on a warm summer afternoon and waited, not expecting anything. Unusual geckos come out and move slowly along the painted surface in search of mosquitoes or other prey.
Blanco Mendizabal observed the right moment and took this photo when a gecko seemed about to be eaten by the cat.
Finnish photographer Sami Vartiainen took this photo one night in August, posing just 23 feet from his badger subject. They stood there for forty-five minutes, badgers mendacity on the ground, scratching, walking and sniffing the air. enter their nest box, or den, until they went in search of food under the canopy of darkness.
When flamingo chicks leave the nest, they enroll in teams called hatcheries, which are necessarily breeding grounds for birds: a few adults watch over a giant number of chicks for the colony.
In Mexico’s Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, some of those gray chicks approached Mexican photographer Claudio Contreras Koob, who lied in the nearby dust. But in a gesture of protection, the pink adults gathered the chicks together and brought them safely to the colony.
Flamingo populations are stable, but are very susceptible to environmental changes. As a result, scientists don’t know how iconic birds will fare in the face of climate change, as their nesting sites are vulnerable to flooding and dry conditions.
Citizen scientists cleaning a canal in Leiden, the Netherlands, came across this young perch who had been euthanized with a surgical glove. He had gotten stuck in his thumb and the spines on his back prevented him from getting out of his pellet. This case encouraged scientists to publish a paper documenting the extent of creatures affected by Covid-19 waste, such as gloves and face masks.
“Photography confronts us with our throwaway society,” Dutch photographer Auke-Florian Hiemstra told CNN’s Jack Guy in November. own behavior. “
Three northern right whale dolphins play in the waves in this photo. The two dark gray heads of adults are on the back, dragging the silver tail of a juvenile. These dolphins have dorsal fins on their backs and their beaks are shorter and more pointed. than most.
American photographer Jodi Frediani in a boat with her camera in Monterey Bay, California, looking to photograph some of those marine mammals. a greater angle for this shot.
The endangered Mindo glass frogs are confined to the Río Manduriacu Reserve in northwestern Ecuador, in the foothills of the Andes. Mining and logging have resulted in habitat loss, threatening those small amphibians.
This female frog surrounded by the cries of men in the forest. Spanish photographer Jaime Culebras approached the creature, placing his camera, tripod and flashes near its blade. The frog’s “raw” eyes captivated Culebras, according to a statement. .
Snow leopards are among the hardest big cats to photograph: their stealth hides them and their remote environment makes it difficult to access the animals. German photographer Sascha Fonseca captured this symbol as part of a three-year camera trap task and, rejecting a practice that some unethical wildlife photographers never used baits to lure animals into the lens.
Here, his theme looks at the snow-capped mountains of Ladakh, India, a colorful sky.
A fox descends the steps at night, with visible wounds. In Aristol, UK, the animal was trapped in a plastic barrier at the site of a structure. While looking to get lost, he was injured and parts of the fence were embedded in his side.
With its hunting ability compromised, the fox might have had trouble finding food. But local citizens began putting pieces of meat outdoors for the animal to take. In this photo, she is dressed in a bird’s paw. Authorities caught and treated the fox after five months.
In this photo, Simon Withyman, a UK-founded photographer, sought to demonstrate the effect of humans on wildlife, even if the harm is unintentional.
Olobor, an African lion, is one of five men who formed a prominent coalition at Black Rock Pride, located in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. Although in this image it looks like it’s night, Olobor actually captures a mid-afternoon break.
The dark background comes from a burnt landscape: Maasai herders had burned the ground to announce the growth of grass. Spanish photographer Marina Cano took the camera out of her vehicle to get the angle of view of this portrait.
This spotted hyena is the lowest member of the Road Clan, an urban organization in Harar, Ethiopia. These opportunistic creatures save what humans leave behind, from rotten flesh to bones. Sometimes, other people leave them scraps of meat on purpose, a nod to the paper. of animals in disease prevention by cleaning the city.
UK-based photographer Sam Rowley used a remote camera placed near the road to get this close-up. In the distance, other extended family members are visual and leave the scene.
In this shed in the Andes, a stuffed cat skin hangs over disused objects. Locals celebrate Andean cats as guardians of the mountains. They are also considered lucky charms to make cattle fertile, so the animals are slaughtered and carried in ceremonies.
American photographer Sebastian Kennerknecht captured this image, which depicts South America’s most endangered wildcat.
Glaucous-winged gulls flock in their cargo to the port of Rausu on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. But French photographer Chloé Bès focused on just one, capturing its beak and eye as seagulls flew hard overhead.
The red spot that stands out on the seak of the seagull is more than decorative: it reflects the fitness of the animal and is a visual aid for the chicks. Young gulls peck at it to feed through the father.
This Pompilid p and the spider Ctenus were engaged in a battle, but suddenly their fight stopped under the gaze of the Spanish photographer Roberto García-Roa. Finally, the p-sting had paralyzed the arachnid, and he stepped back to make sure his paintings were done. Then the p dragged the spider to its nest.
Photographer Bertie Gregory from the United Kingdom was moving in the waters along the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, when he spotted this lone gray wolf. He expected the wolf to leave.
On land, he installed a remote camera, then retreated to his boat and walked away. Using a remote shutter, Gregory snapped this photo as the wolf walked past the camera, surrounded by seagrass all over the quagmire.
Spanish photographer Miquel Angel Artús Illana followed for 4 days a circle of musk oxen relatives in Norway’s Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park. After following the male, the female and her 3 cubs, he saw that another circle of relatives of giant hoofed mammals had appeared.
That September day, the females were in heat, so I expected either male to fight. But the adult female of the circle of relatives engaged in a brief and intense fight that she immortalized in a photograph.
With a tracking camera, Polish photographer MichałMichlewicz observed that this desert barn had attracted the attention of several animals. He saw that wild mammals, in addition to a badger, fox, and marten, were the shelter, but he also picked up many cats in the area.
He visited the stable in western Poland and installed a camera trap inside, facing the front of the animals. This domestic cat activated the shutter when he entered the barn with a common finch he had killed.
The symbol is intended as a reminder of how domestic cats can have an effect on wildlife, especially birds, when left outdoors in an ecosystem, according to a statement.
Canadian photographer Martin Gregus observed a polar cub betting among a giant flock of purple kelp flowers in Churchill, Canada.
Gregus placed the camera at the point of the floor “to capture the global from the attitude of the little one,” according to a statement. He was sitting some distance away with a remote trigger, watching to discern the right moment to take a hit from his imperfect point of view. In the picture, the puppy stands on its hind legs to look over the flowers at its mother.