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An inquisitive polar bear staring into a seal’s breathing hole and an oxpecker cleaning its bill against a rhino’s skin are among the 100 winners of this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
The world-leading photography contest, run by the Natural History Museum in London, released a preview of several winning images from its 62nd year.
The museum said photographs were judged anonymously on their creativity, originality, technical excellence and storytelling by an international panel of photography, film-making, science and conservation experts.
The full collection will be showcased in an exhibition at the South Kensington museum from October 16 to July 11, 2027.
Kathy Moran, chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year jury, said: ‘Every year I think the entries to our competition can’t get any stronger… and every year I am proven wrong.
‘Selected from a record-breaking 65,403 images, this preview presents just a small insight into the 100 incredible images in store for visitors to our exhibition in October.
‘These images pave the way for a deepened appreciation and commitment to our natural world.’
Audun Rikardsen’s image shows an inquisitive polar bear gazing down a seal’s breathing hole in the Arctic sea ice
Ernest Porter captures an oxpecker cleaning its bill against a rhino’s skin in South Africa
A black bear stops for a dip in a pool in Monrovia, southern California, in this picture by Loren Elliott
Jens Cullman’s snap shows an African bullfrog lunging for an African babul butterfly in Botswana
An adult orca supports the body of a calf in the freezing waters of a Norwegian fjord in this photo by Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen
A snake’s-eye view of a mosquito drinking a venomous viper’s blood by twins Andrea and Maceo Grammatico from France
Jack Crockford photographed a swift’s silhouette against a plane approaching Heathrow Airport
‘Eye of the Storm’ – a chameleon battles a sandstorm in the Namib Desert – by Dewald Tromp
Gil Wizen captured this katydid camouflaging itself in Ecuador
An Eastern Japanese toad wanders through the streets of Tokyo after rainfall by Sora Miyazawa
‘Wings of Darkness’ – a black vulture perches on the carcass of a yacaré caiman in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands – by Andrew Parkinson
Allegra Hutton captured a young leopard chasing a squirrel up a tree in Botswana
Shane Gross cpatured this school of bigeye trevally swimming as the morning light breaks and a storm approaches at D’Arros Island, Seychelles
A brown bear is seen riding a small motorcycle as it circles a circus ring in Doha, Qatar, in this image by Pietro Rojas
Ralph Pace captured a sea hare gliding through an eelgrass meadow in Monteray Bay, California
A flock of red-billed queleas swirls above a small pond in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya by Bence Mate
