On a frigid early morning during the Chinese New Year, a stealthy Pallas’s cat prepares for a breakfast of freshly caught bird. In that moment, Xingchao Zhu snapped a photograph. The wild cat’s piercing golden eyes connect with the camera, the light of the setting moon creating a dramatic backdrop.
Xingchao Zhu comes face to face with a Pallas’s cat as the moon sets. Xingchao tracked a group of Pallas’s cats on the freezing plateau of Inner Mongolia for several days during the Chinese New Year in February 2023. Shortly before dawn, Xingchao managed to make eye contact with this cat, just as it had caught a small bird.
The thick winter coats of Pallas’s cats help them survive at altitudes up to 5,000 metres (16,400 feet). They avoid larger predators by stealth, and it’s thought that their low, rounded ears allow them to peer over obstacles while remaining hidden.
Credit: Xingchao Zhu / Wildlife Photographer of the Year ZHUXINGCHAO
The resulting image was absolutely captivating, and one of this year’s commendable honorees for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards. Now in its 60th year, the competition received nearly 60,000 entries from 117 countries and territories around the world. Photographers of all ages and experience levels entered for the opportunity to take home the prestigious Grand Title and Young Grand Title, which will be announced on October 8.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. The winning photographs will go on display at the museum in South Kensington on October 11 and run through June 29, 2025.
(To see images in their full, magnificent glory, click to expand.)
William Fortescue uses a backdrop of storm clouds lit by the setting sun to show mating lions.
It was the rainy season when William visited the Serengeti National Park. He watched the lions mate several times before the female broke it off. It wasn’t until William viewed an enlarged image that he noticed the saliva trails and the explosion of insects from the male’s mane. Lions can mate throughout the year, but synchronising the births of cubs increases the reproductive success of a pride. Female pride members display
cooperative behaviours, including raising cubs together to ensure their survival into adulthood.
Credit: William Fortescue/ Wildlife Photographer of the Year WILL FORTESCUE
Theo Bosboom shows how mussels bind together to avoid being washed away from the shoreline.
Theo likes to take images of species that aren’t usually considered beautiful or important, to highlight their unappreciated significance. He took this image from above with a probe lens – a long, thin, macro wide-angle lens.
Mussels play an important role in creating dynamic ecosystems for other marine invertebrates such as crustaceans, worms and even small fish. They improve the water quality by filter-feeding, extracting plankton as well as bacteria and toxins, which prevents them from building up to dangerous levels.
Credit: Theo Bosboom / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Theo Bosboom
“In the Spotlight”
Shreyovi Mehta finds two Indian peafowl ‘looking perfect for a picture’.
Shreyovi was walking in the forest with her parents when she spotted this scene. She ran back to her dad, who was carrying the cameras, then got down on the ground to take her photograph from a low angle.
Renowned for its birdlife, Keoladeo attracts large numbers of water birds in winter. Peafowl are year-round residents that roost in large trees. They rest in the shade during the day and are more active in open areas at dawn and dusk.
Credit: Shreyovi Mehta / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
“Leaving the Nest”
Sasha Jumanca finds two tawny owlets curiously watching people walking by.
Sasha had been watching these tawny owlets for several days in a park near his home. He had seen tawny owls in the neighbourhood before but was surprised to discover these so close to the heart of the city.
Owlets leave the nest before they can fly, in a phase known as ‘branching’. They will jump, flutter and climb around branches of nearby trees for several weeks while begging for food from their parents, before they eventually fledge and fly away.
Credit: Sasha Jumanca / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
“Precious Rocks”
Samual Stone watches as a jackdaw brings stones to its nest.
Samual had been keeping an eye on the hole in the trunk of a half-fallen willow tree in London’s Bushy Park – he’d seen a pair of jackdaws visiting with their beaks full of hair taken from the coats of local deer.
Jackdaws are highly intelligent and adaptable. They build new nests each year, from all sorts of materials: twigs, branches, feathers, wool, moss, mud and animal dung. This pair kept adding rocks to theirs.
Credit: Samual Stone / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Samual C Stone
Lam Soon Tak spots a vibrantly coloured David Bowie spider carrying an egg sac.
Lam was exploring the highlands of Malaysia when he came across this spider. Perched on broken branches beside a river, the bright white disc of eggs in the spider’s jaws and its orange body stood out against the lush green moss.
Found in Malaysia, Singapore and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, this spider was named in 2008 by arachnologist and Bowie fan Dr Peter Jäger. He thought the striking markings up to the spider’s head region resembled the make-up worn by the singer during the 1970s.
Credit: Lam Soon Tak / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
“Twist and Jump”
Jose Manuel Grandío braves below-zero temperatures to witness a stoat jumping high into the air above the snow.
Winter is Jose’s favourite season for photography. When he spotted this stoat jumping mid-air on the last day of his trip, he saw this performance as an ‘expression of exuberance’ as the small mammal hurled itself about in a fresh fall of snow.
Scientists refer to this behaviour as dancing, although opinions are divided about what motivates it, from an attempt to confuse prey through to a parasitic infection. Stoats are usually active at night and prey on small mammals and birds.
Credit: Jose Manuel Grandío / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
“As Clear as Crystal“
Jason Gulley gazes through clear water at a manatee and a calf adrift among the eelgrass.
Jason has photographed many manatee mother-and-calf pairs. The expression on this calf’s face and the bubbles trailing from its flippers, combined with the hopeful backstory, have made it one of Jason’s favourite images.
Here in the Crystal River, an algal bloom caused by agricultural runoff led to a decline in the eelgrass beds that the manatees eat. The local community acted, restoring the habitat and improving water quality, resulting in more manatees than ever being recorded in the winter of 2022/2023.
Credit: Jason Gulley / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
“Centre of Attention“
Georgina Steytler observes a ball of male Dawson’s burrowing bees vying for access to a female.
Georgina has been studying these bees for a few years and knew she had to keep her distance. Lying on the hot, rocky, sun-baked ground with sand blowing in her face, her long lens enabled her to get the perfect image.
When female Dawson’s burrowing bees emerge in spring, they are surrounded by males competing to mate with them. After mating, the female bee will dig a new burrow filled with pollen and eggs, from which the hatched bees will emerge in spring.
Credit: Georgina Steytler / Wildlife Photographer of the Year GEORGINA
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